Texas prominent on ballot for Hall

Former University of Texas coach Mack Brown and former Texas A&M defensive linemen Jacob Green were new additions among the 75 major-college players and six coaches announced Thursday as candidates for the College Football Hall of Fame.

Inductees will be announced Jan. 8, 2018, during the College Football Playoff national championship game in Atlanta.

Players from Texas high schools and colleges included on the list along with Brown, who led the Longhorns to the 2005 national championship, and Green, who had 20 sacks for the Aggies in 1979, include running backs Trevor Cobb of Rice, Kenneth Davis of TCU, Eric Dickerson of SMU and Byron Hanspard of Texas Tech.

Texas high school players on the ballot who played for out of state schools include quarterback Michael Bishop of Willis (Kansas State), defensive back Rickey Dixon of Oklahoma (WilmerHutchins) and Steve Wisniewski of Spring Westfield (Penn State).

Major-college coaches nominated along with Brown are Jim Carley and Pete Cawthon, both of whom coached at Texas Tech, and Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech.

Nominees from the Football Championship Subdivision include tackle Bruce Collie of Texas-Arlington and Karl Douglas of Texas A&MKingsville.

Odds and ends

The San Jacinto baseball team is headed to the semifinals of the JUCO World Series after a 12-5 win over Wabash Valley College on Wednesday night. With the win, San Jac is undefeated in Grand Junction (4-0). Coach Tom Arrington moved past former San Jac coach and current Rice Owls coach Wayne Graham with 35 JUCO World Series tournament wins. Graham was 34-8 at the JUCO World Series. …

SEC basketball had little going on at its meeting in Destin, Fla. The league will introduce collaborative replay next season, a system similar to what it has in football. The replay panel will collaborate with on-court officials on all monitor reviews during league games.