Since arriving at Texas, first-year coach Charlie Strong hasn’t worried about ruffling feathers. Earlier this week, the Longhorns’ new leader [dismissed former starting tackle Kennedy Estelle][1]. That brought the total number of players Strong has kicked off the team to nine.
Strong said Tuesday at his weekly press conference his goal is to build a lifelong foundation for players, not just get the most out of their football talents.
Of course, when you’re coaching at Texas, even dismissals and injuries can’t fully deplete the talent available to put on the field. So Kansas (2-1) shouldn’t expect some mediocre version of UT (1-2) on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Here are five Longhorns to watch versus Kansas.
No. 18 — Tyrone Swoopes, sophomore QB
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He might still be learning what it takes to lead an offense, but in his second career start vs. UCLA on Sept. 13, Swoopes connected on 24 of 34 pass attempts for 196 yards and two touchdowns — including one that put Texas up by four points late in the fourth quarter.
In his two career starts, Swoopes has completed 67.7 percent of his throws (44 of 65), which ranks him No. 19 in the nation. He has coughed the ball up once, throwing an interception in a home loss to BYU.
Swoopes became UT’s starting QB when David Ash injured his head in the season opener. The setback led the presumed starter to decide to give up football for good. Ash already had missed 10 games in 2013 with a similar injury, so when it happened again he retired from the game.
KU coach Charlie Weis described Swoopes as a big, mobile QB with a very strong arm. Those words have been floating around KU’s defensive meetings, too.
http://www2.kusports.com/videos/2014/sep/24/35977/
UT’s sophomore QB appears to be a serious weapon for Texas going forward. Comparing just the numbers from the first two starts of their careers, Swoopes has completed 13 more passes than former Longhorns standout Colt McCoy did and has thrown two more TD passes than Vince Young did.
Despite his athleticism, Swoopes has only taken off for 10 or more yards on a carry twice this season.
No. 90 — Malcom Brown, junior DT
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Believe it or not, Texas actually has two guys with this name. But they’re easy to tell apart, because Malcolm Brown is a running back (he’s not too shabby, either) and Malcom Brown is a defensive tackle.
Malcom plays a starring role in UT’s ferocious front seven. His team-leading 3.5 sacks have helped Texas reach 13 takedowns of the quarterback through three games. Individually, the 320-pound DT already has 20 tackles, eight tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
Considered one of the top defensive players in the nation, Malcom helped Texas hold Big 12 opponents to 137.6 rushing yards a game in 2013. He has 22 career tackles for loss.
No. 88 — Cedric Reed, senior DE
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By his standards, Reed is off to a slow start this season. But he set the bar pretty high for himself.
In 2013, he was one of just two players (Khalil Mack of Buffalo was the other) in all of FBS with at least five sacks, four pass breakups and five forced fumbles. He finished with 10 sacks, four PBU’s and five FF’s.
Reed leads Texas in career tackles for loss (28), sacks (13) and forced fumbles (five). And while he has just 16 total tackles and one tackle for loss this season, his coach isn’t worried.
> “No, he hasn’t been a disappointment,”
> [Strong said earlier this week.][2]
> “You can have a great junior year and
> then come back your senior year and
> maybe you don’t have the numbers.
> [Reed] is playing fine, he’s playing
> well enough for us, so i’m not getting
> caught up in the numbers.”
No. 8 — Jaxon Shipley, senior WR
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The UT receiver with the familiar last name (his brother Jordan was a standout target in burnt orange, too) leads the Longhorns with 20 receptions this season.
Shipley moved from seventh to fifth on the all-time catches list at Texas — he currently has 179 — by grabbing a career-best nine balls against UCLA. He has caught at least one pass in 33 straight games and has 2,077 career receiving yards.
Though he doesn’t have a touchdown catch so far in 2014, Shipley has hauled in 10 over the previous three years, including six in 2012. While he is more of a move-the-chains possession receiver than a scoring threat, he can still keep the KU defense on the field doing what he does best.
No. 3 — Jordan Hicks, senior LB
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Health has kept the linebacker from becoming more of a household name in Big 12 country the past two years.
On the Butkus Award preseason watch list, Hicks had his 2013 season cut short after racking up 41 tackles in four games. Hicks tore his left Achilles against Kansas State last season, and the year before a hip injury kept him sidelined for 10 games.
So far this fall, Hicks is one of the Longhorns’ top defensive players. He picked off a pass against North Texas in UT’s opener and currently leads the team with 40 total tackles (22 solo).
Hicks had two tackles for loss against both BYU and UCLA. In his career, Hicks has seven double-digit tackle games.
[1]: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20140923-texas-longhorns-dismiss-former-starting-tackle-kennedy-estelle.ece
[2]: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/texas-quotable-strong-talks-suspensions-cedric-reed-resting-freshmen-and-bowl-chances.html/
