Texas Football: Ranking the 10 Best Longhorns from 2014 Regular Season
The regular season has come to a close for the Texas Longhorns, who rode a slew of talented defensive players to bowl eligibility in 2014.
Living up to his billing, Charlie Strong developed one of the best defenses in the country during his first season, getting All-Big 12 seasons from four different players. Before the year wraps up, he should also have the privilege of calling Malcom Brown a consensus All-American.
The offense was a different story, struggling behind an injury-ravaged offensive line and an inexperienced quarterback. However, that didn't stop John Harris from coming out of nowhere to chase history.
Based on their production and the attention their play has received, Harris and the leaders of Texas' elite defense head up our list of the team's top 10 players from 2014.
Honorable Mention
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Yes, he was an All-Big 12 back and the toughest omission from the top 10, but it's tough to praise a ball-carrier who averaged fewer than four yards per carry. The blocking really hurt him, and he was outplayed by Johnathan Gray over the second half of the season.
His performance against TCU was as bad as it gets, and there were others where he was almost as inept. Then you look at what he did against Oklahoma, Iowa State and Oklahoma State, and you see a budding star. The ceiling remains high, though he will be fighting for his job this summer.
CB Duke Thomas
An All-Big 12 honorable mention, Thomas turned in the best season of his career in 2014 as teams avoided Quandre Diggs like the plague. It's still scary that he'll be Texas' top corner next season, which is why he's outside the top 10.
10. OL Kent Perkins
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Texas' offensive line was awful for most of the season, and you could easily argue it cost this team more than any bad day from Tyrone Swoopes. Just imagine how ugly it would have been without Kent Perkins.
No matter what Joe Wickline does with this group in the offseason, Perkins will be a key part of the equation. He brings a mauler's mentality to the interior of the line, yet he has enough mobility to slide over to tackle when necessary.
If you want to quantify his impact, look no further than the 23-0 loss to Kansas State. Perkins left that one on the second play of the game, and Texas went on to rush for 90 yards on 3.3 yards per carry.
Longhorn fans better hope this guy gets some help next season.
9. DE Cedric Reed
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Last season, Cedric Reed was one of the three most important players on this Longhorn team as a constant disruptive force. In 2014, he was largely invisible aside from one huge game.
Reed's inclusion on an All-Big 12 roster is proof that we can stop taking it so seriously. Aside from his monstrous day against West Virginia in which he had 13 tackles, four for a loss and three sacks, he had six TFL and three quarterback takedowns on the season.
In other words, if you subtract that one game, the senior was less productive than rotational player Caleb Bluiett.
Reed is a good football player and should make up for his lack of production with some solid pre-draft showings.
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8. RB Johnathan Gray
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Recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, Johnathan Gray looked like he had lost his unique explosion that allowed him to average over 85 yards per game in 2013.
Then he took off, and it helped the Longhorns turn around their season.
Gray had a couple of nice games early in the year, dicing his way to 84 yards in the opener, then 79 against Baylor. Otherwise, it was tough to watch a player who clearly didn't trust his legs to hold up.
That is until Texas' upset of West Virginia, in which he needed 10 carries to reach 101 yards and three touchdowns. The win was the Longhorns' second of a three-game winning streak in which Gray racked up 305 total yards and five touchdowns.
Gray has set himself up for a nice senior season as Texas' lead back in 2015.
7. S Dylan Haines
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Dylan Haines isn't especially big, fast or physical at the safety spot. He's just a smart football player, and that was exactly what this defense needed.
A walk-on player who was totally off the radar entering the spring, Haines started the last 11 games of the season to finish third on the team in tackles and first with four interceptions. He also defended 10 passes, which was second on the team.
Haines has his limitations, but you know he's going to do his job when he's on the field. He's provided a level of consistency that this position has sorely lacked.
6. LB Steve Edmond
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Texas' second-leading tackler Steve Edmond picked up right where he left off last season as a reliable stopper in the middle of the defense.
Edmond sat out the final two games of 2013 due to a lacerated spleen sustained on this massive block, courtesy of SB Nation. It was a real shame, because Edmond had finally found his groove playing for defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.
Turns out it wasn't so much gaining Robinson as it was shedding Manny Diaz, as Edmond turned in an excellent final season with 122 tackles, 12 for a loss and 4.5 sacks. All of those numbers rank in the top four on the team.
Edmond will never live up to his 5-star billing, but he proved that he belonged on a college football field as an upperclassman.
5. CB Quandre Digg
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He had a brutal outing against TCU, but senior cornerback Quandre Diggs turned in another solid year for the Longhorns in all phases of the game.
Diggs has changed games with big hits, harassed top receivers and been the overall leader of the Longhorn defense all season. He had a bad day in allowing Josh Doctson to post a 7-115-1 line in the Thanksgiving loss against the Horned Frogs, but he was on his game in every other contest.
Despite being dangerously thin at corner, the Longhorns finished the regular season as a top-five defense in terms of yards per attempt, per cfbstats.com. Diggs, and his ability to handle every assignment thrown his way, is a main reason the Horns were able to pull that off.
4. DT Hassan Ridgeway
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Defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway broke out in a way this season, making good on some truly special physical talents.
At an explosive 6'4" and 307 pounds, Ridgeway has as much disruptive potential as anyone on this Longhorn team. He showed some of it as a redshirt freshman, but he fell by the wayside during Texas' stretch run in 2013.
Once Charlie Strong got a look at him, he knew he had something special on his hands. "[Ridgeway]'s a really strong guy...really a powerful pass-rusher also," Strong said back in August. "He has so much strength that he can take guys, once he gets locked on them he can just throw them out of the way."
Ridgeway got his chance when Tank Jackson succumbed to a foot injury and hasn't looked back. He is second on the team with six sacks, recording four other tackles for loss from inside.
With Malcom Brown likely to declare for the NFL draft, the Longhorns will be happy to have Ridgeway back manning the middle in 2015.
3. LB Jordan Hicks
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Shrugging off two injury-shortened seasons, Texas linebacker Jordan Hicks managed to stay healthy for 2014 to turn in a great senior season.
Consider Hicks a snub from the All-Big 12 first team. The senior led the Longhorns with 138 tackles, posting eight double-digit days, and finished second with 13 tackles for loss.
The outside linebacker has always been productive when healthy, but it's simply amazing to see him doing this after an Achilles tear. He played seven games between 2012 and the start of this season, and now he's a Walter Camp All-American.
Had Hicks been able to avoid the significant injuries, we would be talking about him as one of the greatest linebackers in Longhorn history.
2. WR John Harris
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Cast aside by Mack Brown and his staff, senior wideout John Harris earned a starting job in camp and is now 72 yards away from one of the five greatest seasons in Longhorn history. He's been Texas' best offensive player, and it's not even close.
With 39 yards against TCU, Harris officially became just the sixth receiver in Longhorn history to surpass 1,000 yards in a season. He's also Texas' first skill player to go over 1,000 yards since 2009, something nobody could have predicted, even in fall camp.
Harris has been the go-to guy at all levels of the field this season. He's made big plays downfield, moved the chains and easily leads the team with seven touchdown catches.
We'll have to see how he tests out at the combine and/or Texas' pro day, but the 6'2" Harris has a chance to ride this unlikely campaign all the way to the NFL.
1. DT Malcom Brown
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Malcom Brown hasn't just been the Longhorns' best player this season, he's been one of the absolute best in the country on either side of the ball.
Leading the team in sacks, tackles for loss and fumbles forced, Brown has been unstoppable as a junior. He was a finalist for both the Nagurski Award and Outland Trophy, and he is already littering the numerous All-American rosters.
The nation has definitely taken notice of the former 5-star recruit, which makes it even more puzzling that he was overlooked by his own conference for its Defensive Player and Defensive Lineman of the Year awards.
"Malcom brown was up for national awards but our own conference Does not see what the nation sees
"
Brown probably won't mind when he's a first-round pick this spring.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats and information courtesy of TexasSports.com. Recruit rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports.
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