The 2006 Texas Longhorns football team has some big shoes to fill after last year's team won the national title. The team does return a lot of talent from last year's team but losing Vince Young to the NFL draft will leave a huge gap under center. The team had trouble recruiting since Young could have had so much time left in Austin, so early in the year we anticipate troubles.

Offensively the 2006 Texas Longhorns are going to have to win with a quarterback who hasn't seen the field. There are two strong candidates to be the signal caller, with red shirt freshman Colt McCoy and true freshman Jevan Snead both capable. The team's ground attack should be in capable hands with the return of sophomore Jamaal Charles, sophomore Henry Melton, and senior Selvin Young. All three of these guys are a threat to put up a hefty amount of yards and get the ball into the end zone. The team does have two strong wide receivers to throw to in juniors Limas Sweed and Billy Pittman.

The defense may be even more talented this year than the team that ranked in the top 10 in both scoring and yards against last year. The front three is going to be strong with Brian Robinson, Roy Miller, and pass rushing expert Frank Okam. The linebackers are led by returning starters Robert Killebrew and Rashad Bobino who are looking to help shore up the Texas run defense. The secondary has a lot of talent but not a lot of depth, so it's going to be important that Tarell Brown and Michael Griffin stay healthy.

The schedule this year is going to be tough for the Longhorns. They get started at home against Ohio State on September 9th, and we expect the Buckeyes to get revenge for Texas's win in Columbus last season. The next big game is October 7th against Oklahoma, a game that the Sooners should be favored in. Texas will then have a couple of tough road games at Nebraska and Texas Tech to end the month of October and with these four difficult matchups it is going to be tough for the team to reach 10 wins.