Freshman Close Up: Jaxon Shipley

Jaxon Shipley is expected to shoulder a pretty big load as a freshman this season.  He will start at wide receiver and he will return punts as well for the Longhorns this season.  He is the younger brother of Cincinnati Bengal Jordan Shipley who starred at Texas as well.  Longhorn head coach Mack Brown as very high expectations for the younger Shipley:

"I think we'll get turned in to the NCAA because they're going to think Jordan is back when they see him out there for a 12th year.  Jaxon is mature. He's caught just about every ball. He runs great routes. He is tough. He knows what to do."

I can't wait to see what Shipley has in store for us as a freshman.  If he is anything like his brother, man oh man will he be good.

Longhorn Network Close to Deal With ESPN

A deal with the University of Texas and ESPN over a new network seems very near.  There have been no announcements yet about the broadcasting of Longhorn sporting events to central Texas and beyond as of last Thursday.  ESPN's Burke Magnus doesn't seem to be worried that the two sides haven't come to an agreement yet:

"We'll have a lot more to share in the next eight days," said Burke Magnus, ESPN's senior vice president for college sports programming. "It's not a great concern right now. It's just simply the way it works."

Hopefully they get a deal done this week!  I want to start watching all Longhorn games on the Longhorn network!

Texas Might Lose Rivalry with Texas A&M

It is very likely that Texas A&M will be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.  That means that A&M and Texas might not play each other anymore.  Since they won't have to play each other in  a conference game, the two schools would have to agree to play each other year in and year out.  A&M probably won't want to play a tough Texas team each year because they still have to go through the daunted SEC each season if they make the switch.

It would be really sad if this rivalry ended.  I love watching my Longhorns beat the Aggies year in and year out.

Texas Longhorns Will Not Join Pac-12

It looks like any hopes of people having that included the Texas Longhorns ever becoming a part of the Pac 12 conference had their dreams crushed Wednesday.  Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott announced the new Pac 12 network on Wednesday.  It would be nearly impossible for the Longhorns to join the Pac 12 because they have already launched their own network.  Larry Scott had this to say when someone asked if this all but ended a Texas- Pac 12 merger. 

"I think you could certainly imply that, with the news that we're going to announce tonight," Scott told the newspaper. "The Longhorn Network would be certainly a huge impediment."