Texas Football: The 5 Most Surprising Longhorns in 2014

Texas' road to 3-5 has been a disappointing exercise in self-destruction—one five-yard penalty and bad snap at a time.

At least the Longhorns and their fans have been able to enjoy the surprise development of Tyrone Swoopes, his go-to receiver and some new starters on the defense.

Relative to somewhat low expectations, these players have come out and established themselves as budding stars in 2014. Whatever reason for optimism lingers moving forward starts with these guys.

Honorable Mention: DE/LB Naashon Hughes

A redshirt freshman that almost didn't receive a scholarship, Naashon Hughes has emerged from the pack to become one of Charlie Strong's favorite players along the front seven.

The brother of offensive tackle Camrhon Hughes, Naashon was difficult to project, receiving an offer as a grayshirt before getting a full scholarship later in his recruitment. The safety/outside linebacker had shot up to 6'4" by this point and needed to fill out before he ever saw a college football field.

Now the redshirt freshman is up to 232 pounds and looking like found money in the 2013 class. He has started three games at defensive end while moonlighting as an outside linebacker to show off some impressive range for a player of his length.

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Strong on Naashon Hughes: “In that game Saturday, he’s probably one of our brightest spots on defense… He played unbelievable."

@OBWire, 13 Oct 2014

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Hughes has lost some reps to Caleb Bluiett, but he has a bright future as one of the most athletic players in Strong's arsenal.

5. S Dylan Haines

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Haines' pick-six against Iowa State turned the game back in Texas' favor.

Dylan Haines, a walk-on-turned-starter under the new regime, became somewhat of a cult hero after emerging during the spring.

Through seven games, the sophomore safety has proved that he belongs.

Haines has started every game for Texas except for the opener, in which he recorded an interception. On the season, his two picks are tied for second on the Horns, while his 45 tackles are tied for fourth.

One can easily argue that Haines has also turned in the play of the year, when he picked off Iowa State's Sam Richardson deep in Texas territory and then went 74 yards to the house in the 48-45 win.

Now having earned a scholarship, per 247Sports.com, Haines has helped turn the safety spot into one of the strongest on the defense.

4. DT Hassan Ridgeway

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Texas' massive redshirt sophomore has become a force in the middle of the defense.

We all knew that Hassan Ridgeway was going to be good. We just didn't expect him to be this good, this soon.

There aren't three Longhorns defenders who have had a better season than Ridgeway. The redshirt sophomore leads the team with five sacks and ranks third in tackles for loss, making teams pay for loading up on All-American candidate Malcom Brown.

Give Vance Bedford credit, because he saw this coming over a month ago:

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One of these days Hassan is actually going to get mad. He is one the nicest young people I've ever been around. If he ever gets mad, I'm going to be the first person to leave the room because he will hurt somebody. My man could be a beast. I think he the ability to be a special talent, he's gotten better every single week.

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The only question at this point is just how high the ceiling is for the 6'4", 307-pound bulldozer.

3. S Jason Hall

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Hall has already established himself as one of Texas' most important defenders.

The Longhorns have the top pass defense in the Big 12, allowing just 5.8 yards per attempt despite starting two safeties who weren't even on scholarship last season, including true freshman Jason Hall.

Hall is the physical complement to the aforementioned Haines and nickel corner Mykkele Thompson. Considered just a 3-star prospect out of high school, per 247Sports.com, the freshman has surged to the top of the depth chart thanks to his enforcer's mentality.

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#Longhorns played all but 3 snaps in nickel versus Baylor, and true freshman S Jason Hall was 1 of 3 defensive players to play every snap

@AlexDunlapNFL, 9 Oct 2014

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Hall hasn't delivered the splash plays like Haines has, but he's been every bit as essential when healthy. He turned in a stellar performance against Oklahoma, coming up with a pass breakup to go with eight tackles, including a takedown of 243-pound tailback Samaje Perine.

A sure tackler with solid instincts, Hall should have a monopoly on the strong safety spot until further notice.

2. WR John Harris

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An afterthought for four years, Harris has made key plays all over the field for Texas.

Texas fans, pundits and critics alike are watching John Harris this season and wondering where the heck he has been for the last four years.

Through seven games, Harris leads Texas with 649 receiving yards and six touchdowns and comes in just behind Jaxon Shipley with 43 catches. His 81.1 yards per game ranks him seventh in the Big 12, and the six scores account for two-thirds of Texas' receiving touchdowns.

Prior to this season, the senior had just nine catches for 190 yards and three end-zone visits.

A legitimate candidate to crack 1,000 yards, the 6'2" Harris should also generate some solid draft buzz this spring. It's embarrassing that he languished on the bench for so long.

1. QB Tyrone Swoopes

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Swoopes is close to becoming a real star in the Big 12.

Consistency remains an issue, but Tyrone Swoopes has emerged as Texas' most important offensive player and has already turned in performances on par with some Longhorns greats.

The fact that he's reached that point through just seven starts is nothing short of astounding.

With big showings against Oklahoma and Iowa State, Swoopes became just the third Longhorns quarterback to ever account for 800 offensive yards in a two-game span. The other two are Colt McCoy and Vince Young.

Swoopes' stinker against Kansas State (13-of-25, 106 passing yards, 31 rushing yards, no touchdowns) takes the luster off that showing, but we have to remember just how far he had to come.

Just two months ago, Swoopes was a project of a backup whom Strong thought might never work out at the position. "I go back to spring practice, and the spring game was, like, wow, can he play quarterback? I was going to tell him to move to another position," Strong said following Swoopes' clutch performance versus Iowa State.

Now, seven starts in, Swoopes is a decent offensive line away from being a force in the Big 12.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats and information courtesy of TexasSports.com.