Familiar Feeling a Year Later

Texas’ Michael Huff is a senior All-American safety from Irving, just outside Dallas. He e-mailed The Times on Thursday, writing about the Longhorns’ recent schedule leading up to the Jan. 4 Rose Bowl.

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The trip has been exciting so far. We had a team meeting Wednesday night and then practice early Thursday morning.

Practice was great. We had a lot of enthusiasm and intensity. We didn’t know what to expect coming off of a few days of holiday rest, but everybody got out there ready to work.

The holidays gave us a chance to rest our legs, so today we were able to come out fresh. We are practicing at the same facility this year, but we are using the field Michigan was on last year.

Later, we went to Disneyland, where a few of us did some interviews.

I didn’t ride many rides, though, because I am scared of heights. I stuck to the teacups.

For dinner, we went to Disney’s ESPN Zone. That was a lot of fun. We got to play games and hang out with the guys.

A few weeks ago, I was in Florida at Disney World and the ESPN Zone there during ESPN’s College Football Awards.

Bringing the Thorpe Award -- given to the nation’s best defensive back -- back to my teammates was a real honor. It really is a team award for the rest of the defense.

Playing for the national championship is really exciting, but we don’t want to get hyped up too soon because the game is a week away.

We are looking forward to playing the No. 1 team in the nation and we are up for the challenge.

It’s great to be back in Los Angeles. From our experience last year we know the people, the schedule and all the places we are going.