The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Patterson's Posts: Feb. 5
02.05.2015 | Texas Athletics
Read this week's installment of the weekly communication from Men's Athletics Director Steve Patterson.
It was an exciting time at Texas yesterday with National Signing Day bringing a group of young men into the Longhorns family.
Coach Charlie Strong announced 28 newcomers to the program. The 2015 recruiting class is ranked ninth by ESPN and is the best in both Texas (ahead of you-know-who) and the Big 12. It is encouraging to see these results and I am looking forward to the momentum it will provide heading into next year. If you missed Coach Strong's press conference, you can see it here. Learn more about the 2015 recruiting class and watch video highlights here.
Watch videos of former Longhorns Colt McCoy, Brian Orakpo and Keenan Robinson reflecting on their signing days and decision to play football at Texas on Texas Sports.com.
- Video: Signing Day Memories -- Colt McCoy
- Video: Signing Day Memories -- Brian Orakpo
- Video: Signing Day Memories -- Keenan Robinson
We welcome all the new NLI signees to the Longhorns family. We are looking forward to having you on the Forty Acres.
GRADUATING OUR STUDENT-ATHLETES
We also continue to expect great things from our student-athletes in the classroom. On football's academic side, all scholarship student-athletes are academically eligible. Current Texas Football students are not clustered in a particular major and are pursuing degrees from nearly every college on campus including the McCombs School of Business, the Moody College of Communication, the College of Education, the Cockrell School of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Natural Sciences. Here's an overview of football's academic achievements by the numbers:
- 2.76: football's cumulative GPA after the Fall 2014 semester, which ties with the highest cumulative mark in program history
- 12 football student-athletes earned All-Big 12 Academic honors in 2014
- 16 football students graduated in December 2014
- 26 current and former football students are projected to graduate by August 2015
- 45 football students were named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll in Fall 2014 for earning a 3.0 semester GPA
We are currently helping 20 former student-athletes complete requirements to complete their degree at UT. Two others are working elsewhere to finish their degree. Among this group are football's Cedric Benson, Marquise Goodwin, Butch Hadnot, Priest Holmes, Ricky Williams and Nathan Vasher; men's basketball player TJ Ford; women's basketball player Brittainey Raven; baseball's Brandon Loy, Sam Stafford and Drew Stubbs; and track and field's Bianca Knight. We know of no other university that has such an extensive history of helping former student-athletes return to finish their degrees. Our many Longhorn Foundation members support helps make this possible.
Since 2006, 114 former student-athletes have returned to UT to complete their degrees under the consortium degree completion program. Providing former student-athletes who left school early for professional opportunities (or other reasons) the funding and resources to come back and complete their degree has been a part of Texas Athletics for many years. This policy continues to be an important commitment on the part of Texas Athletics.
CATCHING UP WITH…
A.J. Abrams -- former Men's Basketball player and Texas all-time leader in three-pointers made -- recently sat down with host Craig Way on "Longhorn Weekly with Rick Barnes." He talked about his goal to come back and complete his degree to set himself up for success after his athletics career, and how his experience at Texas helped him transition into the business world. Watch the full interview on TexasSports.com.
COMPETING FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Men's Basketball will be back at the Erwin Center next Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. to take on TCU. Tickets are still available here. Our halftime entertainment will feature a 5-on-5 pickup game featuring some of our corporate mascots.
On Sunday, Women's Basketball hosts UT & ME expo prior to the game vs. Baylor. The expo -- which features current Texas female student-athletes and representatives from girls youth organizations around the Central Texas community -- starts at 11:30 a.m. in the Frank Erwin Center concourse. Its focus is to empower young girls through sport and to help build confidence to reach goals. This is a great example of how our student-athletes give back to the community and the positive influence sports can have on the development of young people. More information is available here. The tip time for the game is 1 p.m. Tickets are available at TexasSports.com/Tickets.
No. 1
Defending NCAA champion and Texas track and field star Ryan Crouser is ranked No. 1 in the world in the shot put after last Saturday's competition at the UW Invitational. Ryan currently has the world's longest shot put of the year. Watch Ryan talk about his world leading mark with LHN.
Another school record
Men's Swimming and Diving secured double-dual wins over Arizona and SMU last Saturday. There was some exceptionally fast swimming including All-America sophomore Jack Conger's performance in the 200-yard butterfly where he set a school record and became the NCAA's fourth fastest swimmer ever in the event. Read the full results of the meet here. The women's team was victorious over Arizona and SMU. We will conclude regular season competition next on Feb. 6 vs. TCU on Senior Day. The meet starts at 4 p.m. at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Ninth-ranked Men's Tennis defeated SMU 4-2 last weekend. We have just two more home matches at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center before the ITA National Indoor Championships Feb. 13-16. More information here.
No. 23 Women's Tennis defeated Rice in their home opener last Saturday. We will continue play in two weeks in southern California vs. Pepperdine and USC. In individual achievements -- Two-time All-American Breaunna Addison was recently named the Professional Tennis Registry Female Tennis Player of the Year. Congratulations!
Baseball will host its first home game on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at p.m. vs. UT San Antonio. If you haven't already secured your tickets for the season, there are a variety of options available. More information here. Baseball is ranked in the top 10 of two preseason polls -- No. 6 in the Perfect Game poll and No. 10 in Baseball America and D1Baseball.com's list of top 25 teams. You don't want to miss the action at UFCU Disch-Falk Field this season.
Softball is also preparing for the 2015 season and after heading out to the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., over Feb. 6-8, will open at home on Feb. 13 to start the Texas Classic. Check out the full schedule. Ticket information, including create your own plan options, is available here. LHN recently featured softball's first practice. Watch head coach Connie Clark and our student-athletes talk about their preparations here.
Weekly honors
A number of our student-athletes are recognized for their athletic accomplishments this past week.
- Ariel Atkins was named Big 12 Freshmen of the Week for the second time after averaging 17.0 points in two games. She also was named National Freshmen of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association for games ending the week of Sunday, Feb. 1.
- Ryan Crouser was named the Big 12 Track and Field Co-Athlete of the Week after posting the No. 1 throw in the world. Ryan also remains among the top 10 on the men's watch list for the prestigious Bowerman Award.
- Sprinter Courtney Okolo remains on the women's watch list for the 2015 Bowerman and is still among the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy of track and field.
- Jack Conger is the Big 12 Men's Swimmer of the Week after setting Big 12 and school records, recording the nation's fastest time and becoming the NCAA's fourth-fastest all-time swimmer in the 200-yard butterfly.
- Mark Anderson earns his fourth consecutive Big 12 Men's Diver of the Week honors after winning at least one event in four straight meets.
- Madisyn Cox was the Big 12 Women's Swimmer of the Week for posting lifetime bests in two events and Big 12-leading times in all three individual events.
Great work by our teams, and good luck as we continue to compete to Light the Tower.
Until next time – Hook 'em, Horns!
Steve Patterson
Men's Athletics Director
Players Mentioned
