Bummer of a Day

The stock market is down. Gas costs $3.45/Gallon. The NBA playoffs are the only semi-watchable thing on TV. We should be two games into the AAFL season and talking about the upcoming game with Team Tennessee.

I popped over to the AAFL site and they have removed links to the team pages. The forums are down as well. They have made some changes and it looks like they are trying to get things together for 2009. In the new 'About the AAFL' section it is confirmed that the TV/Radio deal was with NFL Network and Sirus.

2009

The AAFL has decided to delay their season until 2009. They are trying to sound up beat about it, but lets be frank...this sucks.

ALL AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE® POSTPONES INAUGURAL SEASON UNTIL 2009

For Immediate Release
March 13, 2008

ATLANTA, GA – The All American Football League (AAFL) announced today the postponement of its inaugural season until 2009. The League will continue to build upon the foundation that has been established, and will continue to discuss opportunities with potential investors.

AAFL sponsors have committed to remain on board for the 2009 season. Currently, the League has corporate partnerships with New Balance, Baden Sports and Rogers Athletic. Also still in place for the 2009 season are a national radio partnership with Touchdown Radio & SportsDay Productions, and an internet broadcast partnership with PlayOn! Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting.

“We are so very fortunate to have built partnerships with companies who are partners in the truest sense of the word,” said Keenan Davis, AAFL VP of League Operations and COO. “We sincerely appreciate their support as we progress toward our new goal of a 2009 inaugural season.”

All fans who have purchased tickets to 2008 AAFL games will receive a full refund. Credit cards will be credited and any checks received will be returned.

Additional details regarding the AAFL’s postponement are forthcoming.

I'll keep you up to date on any big news that comes up. Team Texas isn't dead yet, but they are on life support. Hopefully we'll soon be covering the 2009 season and not writing an obituary.

TV deal announced to lure investors

CBS 42 has an update on the AAFL Situation

The AAFL is finalizing major national television and radio deals this week, which should be welcome news to interested financial partners. Terms of this agreement require the official announcement is to be made by the broadcast entities and is contingent on the league locating an additional investor(s). The league announced last week that it was actively seeking additional funding to counter the negative repercussions of the liquidity crisis in the asset-backed financial markets, which have seriously affected the League’s majority owner' ability to personally finance the League.

This national TV agreement will guarantee that the following 21 (of this season’s 32 games) will be broadcast in HD by a well-known prestigious national network.

Now rumor has it that the network is the NFL network. I sure hope this stirs up some investors quickly. Lets be honest. Things are still grim. Maybe they can get their hands on some of that 200 Billion the Fed is going to be loaning out.

AAFL still shooting for 2008

It looks like they may delay camp for a little while to finalize some things. I do hope things pan out for the AAFL:

Fox News - AAFL

Bad News for the AAFL

The bad economy seems to be hitting all sorts of areas these days:

ALL AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE® LOOKING FOR
NEW MAJORITY OWNER TO SALVAGE '08 SEASON

In an attempt to secure kickoff of its inaugural season as well as its long-term future and success, the All American Football League® has begun discussions to explore multiple financing options.

Since inception, the League's finances have been indirectly tied to the $300 billion federally guaranteed student loan asset backed securities market. In August, the sub prime mortgage crisis began spreading into other sectors such as municipal bonds and federally guaranteed student loans. The situation, which was considered to be temporary at the time, has continued to worsen.

Despite the fact that the Federal Reserve has repeatedly lowered interest rates during this financial crisis, their efforts have not yet restored liquidity in many asset backed markets, including municipal bonds and student loans.

The League held its inaugural draft in January, and the team rosters and staffs are all in place. All teams are scheduled to open training camp Wednesday if liquidity can be immediately restored.

Every effort is being made to insure that the '08 season will be played as planned, but this depends upon a locating new majority owner with the needed liquidity, which in turn depends upon the League being able to finalize a TV deal. Otherwise, the inaugural season will be postponed to '09.

If you have the big bucks...please contact the AAFL immediately.

Team Texas Practice Schedule

It looks like you'll be able to go check out Team Texas practices during the week if you would like:

Our regular season practices will be in Spring at a middle school facility up there. Those practices will be Monday through Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday we will practice at Rice Stadium. And on Saturday, we play.
We will have a map to our practice sites once we get them officially signed.

From Here

Team Texas Adds 10 in Supplemental Draft

Team Texas Supplemental Draft picks (by round)
1. Brandon Smith, CB – Cal State Sacramento
2. Jermaine Carpenter,WR – Pittsburgh (Kansas) State
3. Marcus Jasmin, DT – Texas A&M
4. Shawn Terry, WR – West Virginia
5. Quinton Smith, RB – Rice University
6. Kevin Garrett, DB – SMU
7. Nick Bunting, LB – Tulsa
8. Derrick Baker, WR – Norfolk State
9. Jake Arians, K – UAB
10. Chris Glenn, LB – William Jewel

AAFL Source has more on Team Texas' Draft.

Coaching Announcements

We are still waiting on the Defensive coordinator, but Team Texas did post this coaching announcement for Tony Marciano, Howard Tippett, and Donald Hollas. Marciano will be coaching the O-Line, Tippet the Special Teams, and Hollas the superbacks.

Supplemental Draft Preview

I don't believe that this weekend's supplemental draft is being broadcast. Team Texas will have 8 picks. I'm going to be out of pocket this weekend, but if you check back on Monday I'll have all the picks with a little analysis.

Look for the drafted players to be skewed toward the offense, especially WR and OT.

Two Protected for the Suplamental Draft

Team Texas has announced two players that they will protect in the upcoming supplemental draft:

Quinten Smith – RB – Rice
Kevin Garrett – DB – SMU

This will leave Team Texas with 8 picks in the supplemental draft. After the 16th, we will know what our team looks like.

AAFL Fundraising

The Team Texas Office sent this over. Sounds like a great program if you organize any sort of youth group:

The AAFL is pleased to announce an innovative fundraising program, where youth organizations have the ability to raise money through ticket sales for their local AAFL team.

We started this program last week, and it has already been very well received by various Church Youth Programs, high-school teams and clubs, as well as many other charitable and non-profit organizations. This program provides organizations with a fun, exciting way for their members to raise much-needed money. We have already heard from many organizations that they have never seen their kids so excited and motivated to participate in a fund-raiser.

For larger events and to kick off an organization’s fund-raising efforts; players and coaches from that local AAFL team, as well as a group of ex-NFL players are available to attend your event and speak to the group. We will match the speakers with your type of organization to ensure the message they deliver is a good fit for your organization. They deliver a powerful, positive message to these young adults; ranging from faith-based messages to anti-gang, drug, and alcohol messages. They are also happy to sign autographs and have their pictures taken with the kids.

The potential money an organization can raise is substantial, and there are generous prizes for the organization members –

· Top 3 in every Organization –

o 1st place - $250 Gift Card and 4 $53 season tickets

o 2nd place - $100 Gift Card and 4 $43 season tickets

o 3rd Place - $50 Gift Card and 4 $33 season tickets

· Top 4 in every State –

o 1st - $2000 cash prize

o 2nd - $1500

o 3rd - $1000

o 4th - $500

· Top Person between all states - $5000 cash prize

If you are interested in learning more about this for your organization, or have questions; please contact us at fundraising@aafl.com; or by calling 877-286-3248.

It is going to be a Party

I think the following information is fantastic news for kicking off Team Texas this April:

Right now our game times at home will be pretty standard at 6:00 p.m. at Rice Stadium.

We will have fireworks after every home game and our gates will open at 4:30.

You can fully tailgate in our parking lots (be sure to pick up your mess though) and we will have great concessions and game atmosphere.

If you have any suggestions on what we might do at games to make them more enjoyable for you, please send us an email on the contact page of http://www.aafl.com, click Texas.

We are going to have to organize some serious tailgating. If you have a great tailgating set up, come over to facebook and join our group, Sell out for Team Texas. If tailgating at DKR is any indication we should be able to round up some sponsorships(ie Free Beer and Free Food). We'll need to clarify Rice's alcohol rules in their lots, but if they are forbidden there we can stroll the 1 mile from Herman park to the Stadium.

Team Texas Games to be Streamed Online

Team Texas is starting to leak some info about the media deals for showing games. It looks like they are going to be very aggressive with new media. If it isn't on in you're area, you're going to be able to watch it online. That is pretty darn cool.

We are working on an announcement soon of a national television agreement to show two regional games a week and a national game of the week. The outlets will be announced at that time, but rest assured that in Houston you will be able to see the games on television.

Also, we are working on our radio network and in Houston and Dallas, we have outlets right now and we are working on Austin, Corpus and San Antonio. Once we lock those down, we will announce them.

You will also be able to watch all of the Texas games on line and also be able to get a subscription to actually watch the games on your cell phones if you wish.

We will also live stream video and audio of games, coaches shows and player features beginning with our series of updates every day during training camp.

I think this is another reason why this league is going to be different. Even the XFL didn't have the media outlets that are available today. Team Texas has been very cooperative with this Blog. It looks like they have a good grip on what is available to them to really get the word out and gain a following.

Official Colors are Silver and White

The Team Texas office sent this uniform information over and I thought I'd share it:

Just for the record, our team colors are Silver and White.

The numbers for home will be white trimmed in maroon, with maroon around the collar and sleeve trim.

The numbers for road will be burnt orange trimmed in maroon with orange collar and sleeve trim.

Our helmets are white with the logo being the Texas Flag cut out into the shape of the state of Texas.

Our colors are NOT burnt orange and maroon.

So there you have it. I'm looking forward to seeing some players wear these. As a college football fan I appreciate the hat tip to the two big Texas Universities

What is the AAFL and Team Texas?

In my promotion of this blog, I can't tell you how many time's I've had someone ask "What is this?!" The ? followed by the ! seems to be universal. This will be here so that you can direct your friends to it when they ask the same question:

What is the AAFL?

• Pro football.
• Played on a 100 yard field.
• Mostly College Rules.
• Players must have graduated from College. At first this may seem odd, but when you will see that they are trying to partner with Universities and this is a big selling point for educational institution.
  
• Games are played in the Spring
• There will be six teams the first year: Texas, Michigan, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee
• The season will be 10 games long, followed by a 2 round, 3 team playoff. Winner of the regular season gets a bye.
• The AAFL is seeking to reproduce some of the pageantry of College Football. They hope to partner with Universities and play their games on campus.
• The AAFL is no seeking to compete with the NFL and in fact hopes to become more of a farm system for the NFL.
• The AAFL board of directors is made up of a number of former athletic directors and other executives that have been involved in college athletics for many, many years.
• Tickets to games will cost between $13 - $53.
  

What is Team Texas?

• Team Texas is one of the teams playing in the AAFL.
• They will play their home games at Rice Stadium in Houston on Saturdays this spring.
  
• The head coach is John Jenkins.
• Team Texas is made up of mostly players who graduated from Texas Colleges.
  
• Their colors are silver and white, with a touch of burnt orange and maroon thrown in here and there.
• Their first game is April 12th, 2008.
• Tickets: Here
• Team Website: Here
• Roster: Here
  

2008 Draft Linkage

A few Links from around the AAFL:

• Team Alabama had a nice draft party. A forum poster breaks down the freebies, guests, and Team Alabama uniforms.
• Auburn fans and Alabama fans are having trouble getting along. Imagine that. Come on guys. Let's get this thing off the ground. If you sell out the first two year the AAFL just might give you a second team.
• This blog is covering Team Florida.
• This blog is covering the AAFL from the Fantasy Football perspective.
  

Logo and Uniforms - No D-Coordinator

If you go over to the Team Texas Picture Section you can see some pictures from the draft. Players are holding up the uniform(Burnt Orange, Maroon, and Gray) and wearing hats with the Texas logo on it(Red White and Blue).

I really like the uniforms. We're going to look a little like Virgina Tech. I know some may think that mixing Burnt Orange and Maroon is like kissing cousins, but in this case, I think the joining of the two really speaks to the spirit behind the league.

One thing that has not been announced is the name of the Defensive Coordinator. We had some promises of the announcement being made at the draft party, but that didn't happen. The draft picks seem to lean toward a 3-4 defensive scheme.

Grading the Draft - How were my preditions?

And what does it tell us about Team Texas?

Here are my predictions. (7:04 AM)

Here's how I did:

QB - 1
RB - 2 (-1)
WR - 5
OL - 5 (+3)
CB - 3 (+3)
LB - 2
DT - 2 (-2)
DE - 1 (-2)

One thing this tells me is that we're probably going to be running a 3-4 defense. We are really short on the D-Line. We may have a few hybrid LBs, but if we aren't running the 3-4 then we really need some more help here.

Grading the Draft - Slipping Through the Cracks

'oops?'

The 'protected players' concept is a cool feature of the AAFL. Texas protected 29 players. I thought it would be interesting to look at the the draft picks by other teams and see if any players from the state of Texas made it onto other rosters.

Shawn Bell - QB- Baylor - Round 50 - Michigan

Shawn suffered through playing against Big Twelve talent with CUSA ammunition. It think it is safe to say that we had our QBs picked out and that this pick isn't 'one that got away.'

Joe Sturdivant - DB/S - SMU - Round 49 - Arkansas

Joe really wanted to get drafted and I'm glad he did. We were already so stacked in the secondary that we just didn't have room for him. I'd like to wish him all the best with Team Arkansas.

Thadis Pegues II - DL/DE - Rice - Round 12 - Tennessee
Alex Obomese - LB - UTEP - Round 5 - Alabama

These two picks are the only ones that I really would consider an 'oops.' We were pretty full at Linebacker already so the Obomese pick isn't that much of a head scratcher, but we really needed talent on the D-Line. I know that Mike Pede is pretty familiar with Rice, so maybe he had some inside info that kept them from taking Pegues.

'Ha-Ha'

On the other side of the table are players that we swipped out from underneat the nose of other teams.

Dwight Ellick - CB - Notre Dame - Round 5
Keith Brooks - RB - Western Kentucky - Round 9
John Simon - RB - Louisiana Tech - Round 11
Damian LaVergne - OL - Louisiana Tech - Round 43
Erick Joyce - CB - Tennessee St. - Round 46
Bobby Garofolo - OL - Memphis - Round 47

It is nice to see that we took from more then we were taken from. Three from Tennessee's region, Two from Arkansas' region, and one from Michigan's region. It is hard to argue that the late rounds are 'steals,' but it is nice to see us snagging so much talent in the early rounds. I think this may be a factor of us running a particular system. We are looking for speed, speed, speed. Both Arkansas and Tennessee are going to be running teams and they were probably looking for a different style player.

2008 Draft Day Thread

5:29 PM

I received the rest from Team Texas. Here they are:


41-Dan Oliphant OL Colby
42-Vince Strange WR California
43-Damian LaVergne OL Louisiana Tech
44-Zamir Cobb WR Temple
45-James Kinney LB Missouri
46-Erick Joyce CB Tennessee St.
47-Bobby Garofolo OL Memphis
48-Chad Owens WR Hawaii
49-Robert McMackin OL Towson St.
50-Samario Houston LB Catawba

4:26 PM

I received the first ten picks from Team Texas. Here they are:

1-Eric Crouch QB Nebraska 6-1 200
2-Freddy McCutcheon DT San Jose State 6-2 295
3-Aaron Cotteral DE Lenoir-Rhyne 6-1 226
4-Akieem Jolla WR New Mexico St. 6-2 203
5-Dwight Ellick CB Notre Dame 5-11 197
6-Chris Bowser OL UNLV 6-6 285
7-Lawrence wilson DL Hawaii 6-6 276
8-Akilah Lacey WR Idaho State 6-3 202
9-Keith Brooks RB Western Kentucky5-11 225
10-Willie Amos CB Nebraska 6-0 190
11 - John Simon RB Louisiana Tech 5-11 212

4:08 PM

Ok. I've gotten in touch with Team Texas and the picks should be coming my way in just a bit. Hold on and we'll know some names.

3:45 PM

This has officially gotten very irritating. I've now spent about 1:30 trying to find out more info. I know they gave out a web address at the end of the telecast of where you could continue to follow along, but I missed it. If you have this, please leave it in the comments. If you know the Draft picks for Texas after the 5th round, please let us know. Thanks.

1:55 PM

I think we're about to lose TV coverage. I've yet to find another source for draft picks. I'm probably going to have to drop off, but I'll track down all the Team Texas picks and put them here.

1:37 PM

Oops. Funny thing there...did Obaseme play at Clemson or UTEP? Or both? Where did he graduate? Did Texas miss out on a UTEP guy?

1:30 PM

Team Texas Picks:
Round 5 - 27th overall - Dwight Ellick - DB - Notre Dame

I wasn't expecting to see many more DBs, but I guess we may need to do some nickel and dime considering there has only been one RB taken in the draft.

1:10 PM

Team Texas Picks:
Round 4 - 22nd overall - Akieem Jola - WR - New Mexico State

I have a feeling this is the first of many WRs. On a side note Tennessee is getting a lot of guys from VT.

12:55 PM

This may be a good time to mention that you can subscribe to an RRS feed of this site if you'd like to keep up with Team Texas News. Subscribe using google reader or some other feed reader.

We've also started a Facebook to try to get a sell out for the first Team Texas game(or all of them.) You can find the link to the Sellout for Team Texas link in the right bar as well. We'd lovee for you to join the group and invite all your friend. If we get enough folks we may be able to throw one heck of a tailgate party.

12:50 PM

Team Texas Picks:
Round 3 - 15th overall - Aaron Cotteral - DE/LB - Lenoir Rhine/South Carolina

Looks like there was a little confusion about where he went to school. Good to see that we are getting some hybrid players

12:35 PM

Team Texas Picks:
Round 2 - 10th overall - Freddie McCutcheon - DT - San Jose State

Some what of a surprise here. We do need DTs. Nice to see Craig James helping out.

12:11 PM

Team Texas Picks:
Round 1 - 3rd overall - Eric Crouch QB Nebraska

Nice to have a Heisman Trophy winner on the team.

12:08 PM

You can order you Team Texas tickets now. Go here:

http://tickets.aafl.com/

12:03 PM

And the first pick is, for Team Arkansas, is an Offensive Lineman from Troy University, Zarah Yisrael. What a name.

11:56 AM

Great story on Jason Hunt. I like the fire and I hope he makes the team.

11:51 AM

John Jenkin's suit is over the top. He sounds really excited to be in Houston. I like it.

11:50 AM

Burnt Orange and Maroon on the Jersey! Fantastic. Cools stuff.

11:24 AM

They just showed the Team Texas helmet. White with the state of Texas on it. The state is colored with the Texas Flag. It is kind of 'Curvy' like the flag is waving.


11:07 AM

We're off! It looks like we're going to have some intro commentary before we get to the picks.

9:12 AM

It looks like Team Florida want to take John Kresser with their first pick. This is kind of odd because he is from Florida. Why didn't they protect him? Maybe he graduated from a different school? You can also see the Team Florida helmet on that page. Looks nice.

7:04 AM

Team Texas Needs Breakdown

I've broken the Protected list into positions. I wanted to discuss the holes in the current team and what we might see in the draft today:

Quarterbacks:

BJ Symons QB Texas Tech
Kliff Kingsbury QB Texas Tech

There has been talk that Team Texas is going to take Eric Crouch. I don't see it happening, but I wouldn't count out drafting another QB at some point. If one of the recent Hawaii QBs is eligible, look for that pick.

Running Backs/Full Backs:

Paul Mosely RB Baylor

I wouldn't expect a Fullback to be drafted. I would imagine we will pick up a couple more Running Back. They will probably be small, quick backs with good hands. With as much speed as we have here in Texas it is really surprising to me that more backs didn't make the protected list. We will have to see what the rest of the nation has.

Wide Recievers:

Jason Hunt WR Trinity
Adrian Madise WR TCU

I had expected more WRs to be on the protected list. My guess is that the majority of our picks today will be wide receivers. Possibly even 5. In case you haven't been following, John Jenkins of 95-0 HoustonCougar fame is the coach of Team Texas.

Offensive Line:

Alan Rueber OL Texas A&M
Phillip Hawkins OL Houston
Bryce Reed OL Texas A&M
Jonathan Palafox OL Angelo State
Beny Rouse OL Texas Southern
John Kirk OL Texas A&M
William Blaylock OL Baylor

This is a nice looking offensive line already. I wouldn't expect too much more activity. It would be nice to have a couple quality subs in order to keep the starters fresh.

Safety:

Ranorris Ray S TCU
Phillip Geiggar S Texas
Don McGee S North Texas
Stacey Thomas S Texas Southern

I believe we are full at safety. One of these guys probably won't make the final roster and I wouldn't expect to spend a pick here

Line Backers:

Wade Koehl LB Houston
Larry Hayden LB Texas State
Lance Everson LB Houston
John Syptak LB Rice
Justin Warren LB Texas A&M

The defensive co-coordinator should be announced today. We will know better then if we'll be running a 3-4 or a 4-3. In either case, we may be close to full at linebacker.

Corner Backs:

Wes Bautovich CB Texas A&M
Will Gulley CB Houston
Chad Price CB Rice
Rolando Humphrey CB Southern Methodist
Sean Weston CB Texas A&M
Eric Buchanan CB TCU

Again, we are pretty much full here. This is a nice little group and I wouldn't expect many names to be added.

Defensive Line:

Kyle Green DE Angelo State

We are very thin here. Expect a ton of activity on the Defensive line.

Special Teams:

Jared Scruggs P Rice

We're going to need a kicker, but I bet we wait until the supplemental draft to pick one up.

My best guess:
QB - 1 Pick
RB - 3 Picks
WR - 5 Picks
OL - 2 Picks
CB/S - 0 picks
LB - 2 picks
DT - 4 picks
DE - 3 picks
K - 1 Pick

21 picks total.

6:03 AM

The AAFL has provided this draft chart. The interesting thing about this chart is that the protected players have been placed in 'the middle.' Team Florida only has 10 picks split between Rounds 1-5 and rounds 45-50.

Interesting Notes:

• Team Texas will be drafting in Rounds 1-11 and Rounds 41-50.
• Team Florida Protected the most players, 40.
• Team Michigan Protected the fewest players, 20.
• Here is list of the Team Texas Protected Players
• Most Notable Names:
• Chris Leak
• Peter Warrick
• Travis McGriff
• Clint Stoerner
• Tee Martin
• Marcus Randall
• Antonio Perkins
  

Wow, Would "Miss the Boat" Make You Less Angry?

My initial post on Mack and DeLoss possibly 'dropping the ball' seemed to really rile some people up. I don't know if is left over imagery from sideline incident in the Holiday Bowl or if some bitter Cowboy fans can't get the Super Bowl flushing interception out of their mind, but it really pissed some people off. Would 'Miss the Boat' make you less angry?

I certainly don't think that Mack and DeLoss are sitting around twiddling their thumbs and not doing something that they should be doing, but I think there is an opportunity that they are missing out on. Florida, Tennessee, and Michigan seem to be taking advantage of this. They are on the first ship out of port. There will be another one and I hope The University of Texas hops aboard.

After some rooting around I think I've arrived at the following reasons for the lack of Longhorn players:

1. Construction - The use of DKR as Team Texas's home stadium, or for a game, is apparently still on the table. The construction this year was an issue in the original talks and DKR just wasn't available. If all the home games end up in DKR in the future, or if even just one game a year is played there, you may see more interest from former horns that want to run through the tunnel a few more times.

2. Graduation Rates - Lets face it. Texas' graduation rates suck. A lot of this has to do with the success we've had recently and the NFL's thirst for our talent. We've sent a large number of players to the league over the last three years and many of those guys haven't finished their degrees yet. On the other side, Texas seems to have a problem graduating its football athletes. Hopefully the new position created for Ken Rucker will help with this.

3. Financial Incentive - Texas may not see the diversion of cash to a third party as a good idea. If the AAFL is successful and can increase/justify the financial incentive to the Longhorn Foundation, we may get some more direct involvement from Texas. The AAFL currently offers a 12.5% kick back on ticket sales through a foundation. If the Longhorn foundation were to help Team Texas sell out Rice Stadium you might be looking at a $1 million dollar incentive for the foundation, but you'd be draining $7.5 dollars of buying power out of the pockets of their biggest customers. Florida and Tennessee are taking advantage of this deal currently. Their stadiums are larger then Rice's so maybe they reached a better threshold. Lets face it. UT isn't strapped for cash.

I am disappointed in that there is only one Longhorn on the protected player list. I'm hoping to see more Texas guys get their info in for the supplemental draft on February 16th. If the league is successful I think we'll see more Horns in 2009.

Exclusive - Team Texas Protected List

Here is the protected player list from Team Texas:

1. BJ Symons QB Texas Tech
2. Paul Mosely RB Baylor
3. Adrian Madise WR TCU
4. Alan Rueber OL Texas A&M
5. Phillip Hawkins OL Houston
6. Bryce Reed OL Texas A&M
7. Ranorris Ray S TCU
8. Wade Koehl LB Houston
9. Phillip Geiggar S Texas
10. Jonathan Palafox OL Angelo State
11. Wes Bautovich CB Texas A&M
12. Will Gulley CB Houston
13. Jason Hunt WR Trinity
14. Beny Rouse OL Texas Southern
15. Larry Hayden LB Texas State
16. John Kirk OL Texas A&M
17. William Blaylock OL Baylor
18. Lance Everson LB Houston
19. Don McGee S North Texas
20. Kliff Kingsbury QB Texas Tech
21. John Syptak LB Rice
22. Stacey Thomas S Texas Southern
23. Chad Price CB Rice
24. Kyle Green DE Angelo State
25. Rolando Humphrey CB Southern Methodist
26. Jared Scruggs P Rice
27. Sean Weston CB Texas A&M
28. Eric Buchanan CB TCU
29. Justin Warren LB Texas A&M

Congrats to these guys. Most should be at the draft party on Saturday. We will have a bigger breakdown over the weekend.

John Quinn singed with an NFL team so he is no longer on the list. Congrats to John.

More Bad Guys - Team Alabama Announces Protected Players

The Birmingham News has a list of the Alabama Protected Players:

Saleem Rasheed - LB - Alabama
Karibi Dede - LB - Auburn
Shamar Abrams - DT - UAB
Jeffrey Dukes - DB - Alabama
Reggie Myles - DB - Alabama
Marcus Spencer - DB - Alabama
Tre Smith - RB/ATH - Auburn
Kody Bliss - P - Auburn?
Eddie Strong - LB - Ole Miss
Brian Balazik - QB - Southern Miss/Montevallo

Team Alabama can protect players from Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Looks like they are giving Georgia the cold sholder.

Team Texas - Did Mack and DeLoss Drop the Ball?

For those not familiar with Team Texas and the AAFL, this intro paragraph is for you. I you are already familiar, you can skip it. The AAFL is a new Pro Football league that will begin play this April. It will start with six teams: Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, and Tennessee. Players must have completed their college degree. The league is trying to cater directly to College Football fans. One of the way they are doing this is by allowing teams to 'protect' players that went to college in their home state, and with smaller states, adjoining states. Team Texas will play at Rice University in Houston. They will have 5 home games.

The AAFL draft is this coming Saturday and Team Texas has protected 30 players from the state of Texas. Twenty more players will be selected in the draft. Through a number of inquires and bush beatings I've learned that The University of Texas only has 5 players that have submitted paperwork necessary to be drafted this Saturday. 5. Out of 1200 only 5 are from UT. 0.4%. Texas A&M has 14 players in the draft. Almost three times as many as Texas. Now there may be some very good reasons for this, but it may very well be that Mack Brown and DeLoss Dodds dropped the ball.

I have to admit that there may be a fuzzy line approaching for the AAFL. The University of Florida is so involved with Team Florida that the University Foundation members are getting first crack at tickets and three home games are being played in the Swamp. I can foresee a day when the NCAA may one day turn a curious eye toward this type of arrangement. In five years this relationship could give The University of Florida an unfair recruiting advantage. The NCAA might frown on that. But right now it is legal to have that kind of relationship and it will be a recruiting advantage. Team Florida has already announced 10 Florida Gators will be a part of their roster. Team Michigan has announced 14 players that are either from The University of Michigan or Michigan State.

At first I though Team Texas was just sandbagging. I figured they were waiting until draft day to drop a big beautiful burnt orange bomb of James Brown, Chance Mock, Aaron Humphrey, Wayne McGarity, and Nate Jones. It probably isn't going to happen. Only 5 players from Texas submitted their transcripts. Phillilp Geigger is one and he is on the team. Who are the other 4? Will any of them be protected? We will have to wait until Saturday to find out, but something isn't right here.

Do our players not graduate? Surely some don't. Scott Derry would probably be great for this league, but from what I can tell, he hasn't graduated yet. Some players from the 2007 Longhorn squad have. Why aren't they on this list? Beyond those, how does The University of Florida have 10+ players eligible and we only have 5. Do they graduate that many more then us? I doubt it.

Is all our talent in the NFL? Sure...some of it is. But Michigan and Florida send a ton of guys to the NFL as well.

Does the Longhorn network pull players out of the pool? This is a possibility. If you don't make the NFL, many look for a "real job." We love our horns and we love to hire our horns.

I have to think that Mack and DeLoss either just missed the boat or had a good reason for not more actively recruiting former players to this new league. Don't get me wrong. We hope we graduate men who can take care of themselves. I sure as hell would rather have Mack in Darrell Scott's living room then trying to help Wayne McGarity get a transcript sent in. But...on the other hand this could be a huge recruiting tool.

Come to The University of Texas and we'll do every thing we can to help you make it to the NFL. If that doesn't work out, we have a long tradition of players continuing their careers playing professional football in Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium as part of Team Texas.

And, please, think of the tailgates!

So what is the deal? Did Team Texas contact UT and get turned away? Did Team Texas ignore the Horns? Were Mack and DeLoss so distracted in their coaching searches that they missed a golden opportunity? Leave a comment. I'll try to get the bottom of this.

In the mean time. There is a supplemental AAFL draft on February 16th. 10 more players will be drafted and Team Texas will be able to protect three more players.Will someone at Belmont please go pull the T-Ring roster, go down to main hall, request those transcripts be sent to:

All American Football League HQ
One Glenlake Parkway
Suite 700
Atlanta, GA 30328

Then get on a fax machine and start faxing draft paper work to player, agents, and players' mommas.

BJ Symons Interview on 610 Radio

Interview from this Morning

Arkansas Protected Player List

Team Arkansas has announced their protected player list. It looks like Clint Stoerner and Marcus Randall are going to have a battle for the starting QB. Team Arkansas can protect players from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Here are the Bad Guys:

NAME (SCHOOL ) POS.
Larry Brown (Oklahoma State ).............. DL
Tony Bua (Arkansas )............................ LB / S
Chrys Chukwuma (Arkansas )................. RB
Tom Crowder (Arkansas )....................... WR
Aaron Danenhauer (Tulsa ).................... OL
Damarcus Davis (Tulane )...................... WR
William Delahoussaye (ULL )............. TE / LS
Bobby Gray (La. Tech )............................ DB
Charlie Hebert (McNeese )....................... TK
Chris Hollie (Langston )........................... OL
Anthony James (La. Tech )....................... TE
Jasper Johnson (UCA )........................... DB
J. J. Jones (Arkansas ).............................. LB
Matt Miller (La. College )......................... OL
Jason Olford (La. Tech ).......................... DB
Antonio Perkins (Oklahoma ).................. DB
Jermaine Petty (Arkansas )..................... DL
Marcus Randall (LSU )............................ QB
Barry Robertson (La. Tech )..................... LB
Jason Russell (UCA )............................... OL
Byron Santiago (La. Tech )....................... LB
Ivan Stevenson (McNeese ).................. TDB
Clint Stoerner (Arkansas )....................... QB
Landon Trusty (UCA )............................... TE
Zac Tubbs (Arkansas )............................. OL

Exclusive - Five More Protected Players

We have some inside info here at teamtexasfootball.blogspot.com. Look for the following five players to be announced as protected players:

Chad Price – Rice - Chad looks like a small speedy DB. He started 42 consecutive games for the Owls. Chad once tried to tackle Vince Young. Don't worry Chad...lots of people tried. Chris Leak topples over much more easily.

John Kirk - Texas A&M - I've been told that this John Kirk from Ft. Worth and not John Kirk from Athens who also played for the Aggie squad team. John plays on the OL and joins former teammate Adam Reuber

Johnny Quinn – North Texas - Johnny is another speedy WR. He signed with the Bills last year but was cut before the season started. He tried out with the Packers as late as November 13th.

Will Gulley – Houston - Will played saftey for the Cougars and had a few near misses with a couple of NFL teams.

Larry Hayden – Texas State - Larry is a DE that earned 3 letters with the Bobcats.

Just to keep everyone caught up, here is the know 'protected' list so far:

Johnny Quinn - WR - North Texas
John Kirk - OL - Texas A&M
Chad Price - DB - Rice
BJ Symons - QB - Texas Tech
Phillip Geigger - DB - Texas
Alan Reuber - OL - Texas A&M
Wade Koehl - LB - University of Houston
Jason Hunt - WR - Trinity University
Kyle Green - DE - Angelo State
Wes Bautovich - S - Texas A&M
Will Gulley - S - Houston
Larry Hayden - DE - Texas State

12 Down, 18 To Go.

Broadcast Information - Draft, Coache's Show, Games

I ran across the following information on the Team Texas message board:

The draft will be broadcast on Comcast Sports around the country and locally, live on Channel 55 in Houston. Play On Sports will bring the draft live via the internet to you on the home page for AAFL, where you can click to watch.

I will be tracking it on the Internet and posting updates to the site. I'll try to have one article that I continually update.

In addition, Team Texas is putting together a radio network for the games:

Our marketing state wide is just getting started but we just put a deal together today for our radio network and I am proud to say that at this time we will have our games and coaches shows carried live on ESPN 97.5fm in Houston and KVCE 1160 AM in Dallas. We are working on affiliates around the state as well.

Outside Inside Info

Joe Sturdivant, a Team Texas hopeful in the upcoming draft, sent along this message filled with players that he tried out with. Maybe your favorite player is listed:

Here are guys that I know and have seen at tryouts, played against or with.

Wade Kroel- outside linebacker at Houston. Great Player, had over 100 tackles his junior year. Big, fast and strong
Bryan Tisdale- Corner from UTEP, Played with him in the Texas vs Nation Star game, lock down corner
Zack Sledge- SMU wide reciever- set SMU school record for touchdowns in a season with 10
John Mouring- Outside Linebacker from GA Southern- was Tampa Bay's training camp MVP
Aaron King- Outside Linebacker/ Long Snapper from utep- fastest snap ive ever seen.
Matt Clark- Kicker from Auburn- went to combine in 06 huge leg.
Alex Obemysi- UTEP DE- would be great outside linebacker. Played in Texas vs Nation game with him, he is a beast
David Overstreet- Missorri Strong Safety
Andray Downs- Rice Free Safety needs to be a corner



the next is a list of guys in the draft pool not sure where they went to school just met them at diff tryouts.

randy samuel
jason simpson
sean radin
thomis smith
marcus spencer
jay stagg- UNLV
chad stevens
quincy stewart
brock stratton
david thomas
tristan thomas
luke tillman
devraun thompson
James Todd- Baylor

Thanks Joe! Good Luck on Saturday

Star Power! - Geigger, Symons Protected

Ask and you shall receive again! Team Texas has added some new players to their Team Page.

From the Team Texas Site:

BJ Symons, QB Texas Tech:

B. J. Symons started for one season as quarterback for the Texas Tech RedRaiders. During his only season as a starter (his senior year), Texas Tech finished the season 8-5, and Symons broke the NCAA record for single-season passing yards at 5,833 yards. Symons set the NCAA 12-Game Passing Record with 5,336 yards in 2003. Symons also established a new NCAA 12-Game Total Offense Record with 5,476 yards this season. At the time of his graduation Symons held the Big 12 and Tech record with 48 touchdown passes in one season. Symons broke Kliff Kingsbury's school and Big 12 single-season record of 45 touchdown passes.


Wade Koehl, LB University of Houston:

Koehl signed with Houston after he played linebacker and fullback for the Bulldogs in their run to the Class 5A Division I State Championship game in 2002. He started for four years at Houston, where he led the team in tackles as a freshman.


Phillip Geiggar, DB University of Texas:

Geiggar was an athletic, hard-hitting defensive back who was the veteran leader of the Longhorn secondary, a key member of the special teams and returns punts and kickoffs, and played in 50 career games (including bowls).


Jason Hunt, WR Trinity University:

Hunt received All-SCAC first-team honors for his play at wide receiver for Trinity.


Alan Reuber, OL Texas A&M:

Alan Reuber was an American football guard and tackle and was a practice squad player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was originally signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Texas A&M.

I'll try to get some more detailed profiles up next week.

Kyle Green announced as a Protected Player

Angelo State DE Kyle Green was announced as another Protected player. If you know anything about Kyle leave it in the comments. Here is Kyle's page at nfldraftscout.

One thing this tells us is that 2007 Seniors are eligible for the AAFL. I'm very excited for Kyle and the other DII and DIII players, but it is time for Team Texas to make a splash and give us some star power to start promoting this thing.

I also recieved an email from Joe Sturdivant, a former SMU saftey, telling me that he was not protected. Good luck to Joe in the draft. Hopefully he'll end up on Team Texas after all.

Graduating Aggies to the AAFL?

Previously we looked at the graduating Longhorns. Today the Aggies.

A number of Texas A&M Aggies from the 2007 squad earned their degrees this past December. Could they be playing on Team Texas for the 2008 season?

Lets take a look:

NFL Locks:

Red Bryant 1st or 2nd Rounder
Corey Clark 2nd half
Chris Harrington 2nd half

NFL Maybe:

Chris Alexander - I've seen Chris ranked as the #26 FB in the draft. That isn't very good for a FB and he probably won't be drafted. Unfortunately I don't know that there is a place for Chris on Team Texas. We're going to be running a Run-n-Shoot style offense and I doubt we'll even have a FB on the roster.

Kirk Elder - Elder is projected to go in the 7th round. If he's taken he'll be busting his butt to make a squad. If not I'd love to see him on the Team Texas O-line. If he performs well he'll end up on an NFL squad.

AAFL Candidates:
Mark Dodge - I believe that Mark has 'retired' and is not pursuing the NFL. It is a shame. That guy was all over the field. I'm not sure where he got his job, but if it is in Houston there is no reason he shouldn't play football on the weekends for Team Texas and pick up a little nest egg money.

Stephen Hodge - Stephen started the last two games of the year and had 33 tackles on the year. I don't know much about him, but he has a degree and helped kick the longhorns into the ground so he probably has a chance.

Henry Smith - Henry isn't going to get drafted and should be a target for Team Texas. He started all but the bowl game for the Aggies.
Scout Team:
Ben Bitner
Michael Corey

I have no idea about these guys except that Bitner is bald and apparently lived under a bridge for a year and half. I'm looking forward to some Aggie help on Team Texas, but you guys really are weird sometimes.

Team Texas Announces Two Protected Players

It looks like Team Texas has started to announce protected players. If you're not familiar with protected players, each team in the AAFL can protect players that attended college in their region. Team Texas is restricted to the state of Texas. The first two players announced as protected are:

Wes Bautovich - A former safety for the Texas A&M Aggies
Jason Hunt - A former WR for the DIII Champion Trinity Tigers.

Team Texas has posted entries on its blog by Wes and Jason.

It seems like these guys have worked really hard to get hear and that they are really excited to play. Congrats guys.

Graduating Longhorns to the AAFL?

A number of Texas Longhorns from the 2007 squad earned their degrees this past December. Could they be playing on Team Texas for the 2008 season?

Lets take a look:

NFL Locks:

Frank Okam 1st or 2nd Rounder
Limas Sweed 1st Round
Marcus Griffin 2nd half
Derek Lokey 2nd half

NFL Maybe:

Brandon Foster - Brandon improved quite a bit in 2007 but I would hardly call him NFL material. If he gets a chance with Team Texas he may show us more. I think the AAFL will be right in his wheel house and he could be a contributor for years to come.

Nate Jones - I've seen Nate ranked in the 70s of available draft prospects. This is not good. I would expect his draft stock to improve if he is invited to the combine but the draft doesn't look like a possibility for Nate. This is a shame because Nate was such a great target for Colt this year. If Nate isn't on the protect list for Team Texas, he should be. As much as we expect to throw the ball, Nate's hands should come in handy. The season should wrap up just about the time NFL training camps get underway. I'd love to have Nate on Team Texas for just one year. My guess is that he would turn enough heads to make an NFL roster for 2008.

AAFL Candidates:
Erick Jackson - Erick Jackson hits hard. He didn't make as much of an impact as everyone would have liked as a Seinor. Maybe there is room for Erick to grow in the AAFL?

Drew Kelson - Drew seemed to be a victim of the Coaching Staffs whims and fancies. He was moved around a lot and never settled anywhere. Whether this was due to his lack of talent or his lack of opportunity was never answered.

Robert Killebrew - Please No. One can only take so many personal fouls per game. I appreciate his leadership and energy, but he always seemed to be a step behind the play.

Thomas Marshall - Thomas Marshall was injured a lot. When he got to play, I enjoyed watching him. It is hard playing behind Lokey and Okam. He may be perfect for the AAFL if he can stay healthy.

Justin Moore - Looks like Justin graduated and has taken a job in Houston(thanks UTPhil2006). Congratulations. Maybe he can punt on the weekends?

Scout Team:
Freddy Torres
Gilbert Zepeda
Ryan Moench
Jaime Carvajal

I have no idea about these guys. Thanks for all your hard work in practice?

Ask and You Shall Receive - Playoffs

I sent my playoff suggestions post into the AAFL yesterday and I received this response back from Marcus Katz:

3 team playoff:

The first week have the #2 and #3 teams play. Then have the winner play the #1 team. I like this because there is a real reward to finishing the regular season #1. A bye is huge. The only draw back I see is that the #1 team would have 3 weeks off...but these college players are used to that aren't they?

This is the format.

First round is now June 28 and Championship game is July 3 or July 5.

M. Katz

CEO

All American Football League

I'm really pleased with this. The AAFL regular season is going to have meaningful games all the way up to th end. A bye is a huge reward for finishing on top.

AAFL Playoff Structure

I've yet to see anything official about the structure of the AAFL playoffs, but at this point I'm assuming that it is a four team playoff. If this is indeed the case I'm very disappointed. I loathe the NBA's system of letting over half teams into the playoffs and 2/3rds is even worse. First, lets look at the pros of having a four team playoff:

1. More Football. It is always great to watch more football.
2. More Exposure For Players. I understand that the AAFL is trying to position itself as a 'farm system' and giving players another game to showcase themselves is a good thing

Now for the cons:

1. Too much football. With only 6 teams and a double round robin in the regular season we will have already seen the first round match ups twice.
2. Decreasing the value of the regular season. Part of the allure of college football is that every game counts so much. A couple of teams are going to end up clinching a playoff spot half way through the season. What fun is that?

I look forward to the day when the AAFL has 22 teams in two divisions and the regular season is made up of a round robin. Until then I'd like to propose the following possibilities for a more exciting post season:

3 team playoff:
The first week have the #2 and #3 teams play. Then have the winner play the #1 team. I like this because there is a real reward to finishing the regular season #1. A bye is huge. The only draw back I see is that the #1 team would have 3 weeks off...but these college players are used to that aren't they?

2 team playoff for all places:
The first week you have the #5 and #6 team play for 5th and 6th place. The same for #3 and #4. The Championship game will be played between the #1 and #2 teams on the 4th of July weekend. I like this because with this few teams, why not let everyone have a showcase game? No one wants to finish last, Everyone want to be in the top half vs. the bottom half, and everyone wants to be the champ. All three games would have some meaning.

2 team 3 game series.
Let the two top teams play a 3 game series to decide the championship. The down side to this is that you may not get your July 4th weekend game. If one team wins the series in two games you're going to have to come up with some sort of showcase side show. Maybe an All Star game? I actually really like that idea.

Profile: Superbacks Coach - Donald Hollas

Interesting story here. Donald Hollas' dad was my 4th and 6th grade principal. True story. I think I was in Junior High when he was playing QB for the Lamar Consolidated Mustangs. I followed him a bit because I felt like I knew someone famous. I think he may have even come over to swim in our pool when my cousin had a big party. I remember being really disappointed when the Bengals drafted him because I was a huge Oiler fan at the time. I'm glad he's back with the good guys.

You can read more about him here: Wikipedia Article On Donald Hollas
His NFL stats are here: Donald Hollas NFL Stats
Here is an old article featuring him from his playing days: SF Gate Article on Hollas
Hollas Coached the Katy Ruff Riders last season. Here is a pdf summarizing their season: Ruff Riders Season

What does all this tell us? Not much. What is a superbacks coach anyway? Hollas played at Rice back in the option days so I would imagine he has some keen insights on getting backs into space. Hopefully Jenkins will work in some nice plays for the backs. We can also hold out some hope that the QB we end up with will have some legs.

Profile: The Coach - John Jenkins

I found this article about John Jenkins to be insightful. I would advise reading that article before continuing.

Wow. What can one say? I guess we're in for a wild ride. Let me be the first to say that I'm thrilled that we're going to have some sort of spread offense. I hope he is adaptive enough to implement the zone read running plays as a counterbalance to the run-n-shoot.

I'm not so thrilled to have a character coach. I have visions of Jerry Glanville and Buddy Ryan running through my head. I love the Mack Brown CEO coach. I don't want our coach to be bigger then our team. I also don't want to start a fire-john-jenkins.com right out of the gate. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. If his history is any indication he may not be here for long.

We will have to see how things turn out. One thing is for sure, the offense isn't going to be boring.

Big Announcments at Draft Party

According to this post and this post there will be a number of announcements at the Draft Party including the coaching staff and the am logo and colors.

A representative from the team indicates that the name is going to be "TEAM TEXAS" and that they are not going to pick an 'official' mascot as of yet. I like that decision a lot. I really, really, really, really hope the color isn't red. No offense tot he Cougars and Raiders in the house, but too many bad guys wear red(OU, NEB, Arkansas)

Draft and Draft Party set for January 26th, 2008

Team Texas has released information about the draft party they are hosting in Houston. This sounds like a fun event and I wish I could attend. We will be in Houston this weekend but not next weekend. If you go please send us your draft party reports. We'd love to publish them. Send them to teamtexas@fatheree.info.

Team Texas to Play Home Games At Rice Stadium

I didn't see a press release, but the official Team Texas page seems to confirm the long standing rumor that the games are going to be played at Rice stadium.

I have mixed emotions about this one. The last game I saw in that stadium did not go well(Texas v. Rice '95). I know they've renovated it a quite a bit so I hope it is nicer now. My biggest complaint is that all the home games are going to be in Houston. I was really hoping that they'd have at least one in Dallas. We recently moved from Houston to Dallas and we still have tons of friends there so it won't be like we don't have a reason to go back. My dear sweet wife already puts up with my football shenanigans for so many weekends in the fall that this might be a tough one to sell.

If you work for Team Texas please do your best to get us a game in Dallas. Austin and San Antonio would be nice as well. The yearly trip to those places could help folks keep up with all sorts of friends that they've lost touch with.

2008 Team Texas Schedule

Here is the 2008 Schedule for Team Texas:

4/12/08	ARKANSAS
4/19/08	at Alabama
4/26/08	TENNESSEE
5/3/08	at Michigan
5/10/08	FLORIDA
5/17/08	ALABAMA
5/24/08	at Arkansas
5/31/08	at Florida
6/7/08	MICHIGAN
6/14/08	at Tennessee
6/28/08	First Round of Playoffs
7/3/08 or 7/5/08	Championship Game

A couple of things pop out at me. The late May game in Florida is going to be brutal. I wish we were playing at Michigan on June 7th. Home games in June are going to be tough. I also love that the Championship game is going to be on the 4th of July weekend. Good stuff. I'm curious to see if 4 teams or 3 teams get into the playoffs. If it is four then the regular season loses a ton of luster. It hard to get an adrenaline rush when all you have to do is finish in the top 2/3rds.

Welcome

Welcome to the Team Texas Football blog. We will be covering Team Texas of the All American Football League.

You will have to deal with my bias to The University of Texas. I know that we will have players from all over, but being able to see my horns play a few more games is really going to be awesome. In my opinion this league will work. As a college football fan it hits me right in the middle of my heart. Cheering for a Texas team with a Texas heart will mean so much more to me then cheering for a bunch of Pretty Boy 'Cowboys' from Illinois or a team that has the audacity to call itself "The Texans" and then pass on the Living Breathing Heart of Texas when it is sitting right there in front of you. Yes I'm still bitter about that.

Texas Fight!