The Season of Optimism: The Longhorns began their annual spring workouts Feb. 22, fresh off the team’s best performance of the 2007 season in the Holiday Bowl and with two new high-profile assistant coaches - Will Muschamp and Major Applewhite.  Texas returns just 11 starters - and only four on defense - which means plenty of positions remain for the taking.  “We’ve told the players not to take a lazy step and not to take a day off,” coach Mack Brown says, “because they may not get back out on the field.”

Pool Sharks: One of the quietest records in all of sports belongs to the men’s swim team, which won its 29th consecutive conference title on March 1 at the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships.  UT finished with a conference record, proving that Eddie Reese’s squads don’t merely win competitions but continue to set records in the process.  Six-time All-American Michael Klueh, who was named Big 12 Swimmer of the Meet - setting four records in one race alone - may be one in a long line of exceptional athletes Reese has coached, but even Reese is running out of superlatives to describe the sensational junior.

Plus: Kevin Keyes and Adolph Kiefer