Texas Football: News, Rumors and 2012 Spring Football Schedule

The 2011 college football season may have just ended, but that doesn't mean that the players and coaches go sit on the couch for seven months. No, first it was the recruiting process, and now, it's time to begin preparing for spring practices.

These practices are extremely important, as it will help the coaches answer questions and help them put together their depth chart for the upcoming season. This is also a chance for the younger players to prove themselves and earn more playing time than they probably would have normally received.

As we get closer to preparing for next year, here's some news, rumors and everything that has to do with spring football involving the Texas Longhorns.

Key Dates

The Texas Longhorns will kick off their first spring practice February 23rd which is earlier than the majority of the teams out there.

That will be followed by the spring game that will take place on April 1st and will be broadcast live at 2 p.m. ET on the Longhorn Network.

Yes, football will be here before you know it.

Texas Lands QB Tyrone Swoopes

The 2012 recruiting class may be rapidly coming to an end, but the Longhorns have already locked up a top prospect for 2013 in quarterback Tyrone Swoopes.

He's a dual-threat quarterback at 6'5" and also has the ability to play other positions such as wide receiver.

Swoopes picked the Longhorns over schools such as Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma, among others.

Here are a few things he said about co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin who was one of the main reasons he ended up going with the Longhorns.

"Every time I talk to him he's asking about the family, how's basketball going, how life is going in general," Swoopes said. "Some of the other coaches, all they care about is the football part of it. He's kind of different from everybody else."

Quarterback Anyone?

It's amazing how many good teams heading into the year still don't know who their starting quarterback is. Texas is one good signal-caller away from competing in the Big 12 and returning to a BCS bowl. The question is, will it be Colt McCoy or David Ash?

McCoy has potential as he completed 61 percent of his passes and showed absolute brilliance against UCLA. But Ash did finish the end of the season strong and has shown to have a stronger arm than McCoy and can make plays with his feet as well.

At this point, I'd pick Ash because I believe he gives the Longhorns the best chance to win. But this competition will be decided in the next few months and will be the key battle to watch as the spring opens up.

Randy Chambers is a B/R featured columnist who covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].