Texas Losing Ground (Game)

Ever since their thrilling 41-38 victory over USC on January 4th in the Rose Bowl, the National Champion Texas Longhorns have been regressing.

First, they lost Vince Young to the NFL's Tennessee Titans. Young basically WAS the Longhorns offense. Besides his passing numbers, he was also responsible for 1,050 yard rushing and 12 rushing touchdowns.

Tuesday, the Longhorns running attack suffered another loss.

Ramonce Taylor announced he would be transferring to a new, as of yet, undetermined school. Taylor had already missed spring practices to focus on his academics. Then in May he was arrested for possession of marijuana.

He didn't have a prescription, in fact he probably got it from Texas alumni Ricky Williams.

It doesn't appear that the transfer has anything to do with the arrest though, just academics. Taylor only had nice things to say about his time in Austin:

"I want to thank my teammates who supported me through any struggle. I also need to thank coach Brown for always being honest and never changing. He always treated me as a person first and not just a football player. I'll always respect him for that."

Taylor didn't have a big game in the Rose Bowl - Vince Young never let go of the ball (why would he, it's not like the Trojans showed any signs of stopping him) - but he did manage to score a touchdown. And he was an all around threat for the Longhorns offense, lining up at both running back and wide receiver. He combined at both positions for 778 yards and 15 touchdowns.

But while Texas has lost a lot of its 2005 production in the backfield, the cupboard isn't exactly bare. The returning trio of Jamaal Charles, Selvin Young and Henry Melton combined for 1,771 yards and 29 TD's, led by Charles' 878 yards and 11 TD's.

So while the Longhorns won't be expected to repeat their National Championship performance of last season, they won't exactly be suffering either.


SOURCE: Texas RB Taylor to transfer-ESPN