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The Lowdown 2006 Schedule Coach: Mack Brown (9th season, 83-19) 2005 record: 13-0 (Beat USC in Rose Bowl) Big 12 finish: 8-0 (1st South) 2005 I-A offensive rankings: Rushing: 2nd (274.9 ypg) Passing: 40th (237.2 ypg) 2005 I-A defensive rankings: Rushing: 33rd (130.9 ypg) Passing: 8th (172.0 ypg) Date Opponent Sept. 2 North Texas Sept. 9 Ohio State Sept. 16 #Rice Sept. 23 Iowa State Sept. 30 Sam Houston State Oct. 7 %Oklahoma Oct. 14 Baylor Oct. 21 at Nebraska Oct. 28 at Texas Tech Nov. 4 Oklahoma State Nov. 11 at Kansas State Nov. 24 Texas A&M #Reliant Stadium: Houston TX %Dallas TX Depth Chart: Offense 5 returning starters in red Ps. No. Player Yr. No. Player Yr. SE 4 Limas Sweed Jr. 23 Myron Hardy So. FL 5 Billy Pittman Jr. 6 Quan Cosby So. LT 79 Tony Hills Jr. 70 Greg Dolan So. LG 64 Kasey Studdard Sr. 52 Charlie Tanner Fr. C 62 Lyle Sendlein Sr. 67 Dallas Griffin Jr. RG 55 Cedric Dockery So. 71 Chris Hall Fr. RT 63 Justin Blalock Sr. 74 Adam Ulatoski Fr. TE 87 Neale Tweedie Sr. 16 Jermichael Finley Fr. QB 12 Colt McCoy Fr. 7 Jevan Snead Fr. FB 3 Chris Ogbonnaya So. 32 Marcus Myers Sr. RB 25 Jamaal Charles So. 22 Selvin Young Sr. Depth Chart: Defense 7 returning starters in red Ps. No. Player Yr. No. Player Yr. DE 39 Brian Robison Sr. 98 Brian Orakpo So. DT 99 Roy Miller So. 96 Derek Lokey Jr. DT 97 Frank Okam Jr. 94 Thomas Marshall Jr. DE 80 Tim Crowder Sr. 48 Chris Brown So. SLB 40 Robert Killebrew Jr. 2 Sergio Kindle Fr. MLB 44 Rashad Bobino So. 38 Roddrick Muckelroy Fr. WLB 4 Drew Kelson Jr. 43 Jeremy Campbell So. CB 31 Aaron Ross Sr. 28 Brandon Foster Jr. CB 5 Tarell Brown Sr. 29 Ryan Palmer So. SS 26 Marcus Griffin Jr. 18 Matt Melton Sr. FS 27 Michael Griffin Sr. 6 Erick Jackson Jr. Special Teams Ps. No. Player Yr. Ps. No. Player Yr. K 97 Greg Johnson Sr. P 97 Greg Johnson Sr. KR 11 Ramonce Taylor Jr. PR 31 Aaron Ross Sr.

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Mack Brown has rarely been faulted for his recruiting. But when it came to attracting top high school quarterbacks to Texas while Vince Young was going crazy legs on opposing defenses, Brown might as well have been recruiting to Siberia U.

He tried to get a high-profile quarterback in the 2003, 2005 and 2006 recruiting classes. He went 0-fer. Brown went after Rhett Bomar (who signed with Oklahoma), Bobby Reid (Oklahoma State), Xavier Lee (Florida State), Kyle Wright (Miami), Mark Sanchez (USC) and Ryan Perrilloux (LSU). All said thanks, but no thanks.

Now, Brown finds himself trying to defend the national championship and the nation's longest winning streak (20 games) with a quarterback who has never taken a college snap.

"We've told our young quarterbacks that we want to defend the national title and that we believe in them," Brown says. "They have a lot of talent around them. So we're not asking them to go win games for us. We simply want them to play their role."

OFFENSE

Redshirt freshman quarterback Colt McCoy and true freshman Jevan Snead made progress learning the offense, making reads and taking command of the huddle in the spring, but there was no separation between the two. So, McCoy and Snead may end up sharing the job to start the season.

The offensive line should be able to protect whoever is under center, as three starters return -- including preseason awards candidate Justin Blalock at right tackle.

The Longhorns lost their leading rusher in Young, who ran for 1,050 yards and 12 scores last season. But Texas still returns 2,284 yards and 41 TDs on the ground. Stud sophomore Jamaal Charles (878 yards, 11 TDs), versatile junior Ramonce Taylor (513 yards, 12 TDs), senior Selvin Young (461 yards, 8 TDs) and powerful sophomore Henry Melton (432 yards, 10 TDs) give the Horns plenty of options.

Taylor was basically booted from spring football by Brown as a message to get serious about his academics after skipping a few classes earlier in the year. Taylor is expected back, but it's no guarantee.

Receiver was one of the biggest question marks going into 2005 and now is one of the team's strengths.

DEFENSE

The front seven of the Longhorns' defense may be the best since Brown took over in 1998. Texas also has the same defensive coordinator (Gene Chizik) for the second straight year after having three different coordinators over the past three seasons. This unit will need to be among the nation's leaders in scoring defense once again to help carry an offense breaking in a new quarterback.

The emergence of sophomore Roy Miller and junior Derek Lokey at nose tackle has allowed explosive junior tackle Frank Okam to move from nose to the 3-technique (lined up on the outside shoulder of the guard). Okam wants to be among the Big 12's sack leaders this season and coaches believe he can be.

Senior ends Brian Robison and Tim Crowder and sophomores Brian Orakpo and Chris Brown may finally give Texas a double-digit sacker for the first time since 1999.

Chizik has the depth and speed he craves at linebacker and has a talented, but thin, secondary led by free-safety Michael Griffin and cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Tarell Brown.

SPECIALISTS

The Longhorns may well replace departed kicker David Pino with true freshman Hunter Lawrence. At punter, Richmond McGee exits and left-footed senior Greg Johnson, a freshman All-American at Vanderbilt in 2002 who has been slow to blossom at Texas, takes over. Johnson will probably handle kickoff responsibilities.

FINAL ANALYSIS

Young taught the returning players how to win. If they've taken those lessons to heart, the Longhorns might be able to find a way to beat Ohio State in Austin on Sept. 9. A win over the Buckeyes would give Texas confidence going into a Big 12 schedule that will include dangerous games against Oklahoma, at Nebraska and at Texas Tech.

The defense should be good enough to allow an inexperienced quarterback to win some close games. The question is, how Texas will respond to adversity without Young?