Texas Football: 3 Former Top Recruits Who Will Finally Shine in 2015
Much of Texas' success in 2014 stemmed from former top recruits stepping up to turn in career seasons. A few returning Longhorns have a chance to do the same thing this season.
Charlie Strong's best players from his debut season were predicted long ago by the recruiting services, especially from the 2011 class. Malcolm Brown, Steve Edmond, Quandre Diggs, Jaxon Shipley, Cedric Reed and Mykkele Thompson were all highly regarded members of that class, and all turned in seasons good enough to get shots in NFL camps.
Jordan Hicks (2010) and Malcom Brown (2012) also represented their classes well en route to high draft selections.
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Now all of those guys are gone, leaving behind several underachieving recruits from the 2012 and 2013 hauls. Former members of the Top247 like Duke Thomas, Hassan Ridgeway and Kent Perkins have panned out.
Though, for the most part, the highest-rated members of these groups have been outplayed by lesser-known talents such as Taylor Doyle, Dylan Haines, Jason Hall and Naashon Hughes.
Those players will continue to be the backbone of this team, but they'll need a lot of help from the great talents who have underachieved these past couple of years. Running back Johnathan Gray will lead the way for the former Top247 players who will shine in 2015.
It almost seems unfair to call Gray an underachiever. He's been a class act who has worked his tail off ever since he arrived on campus, and this team will miss him in every sense of the word when he graduates.
Still, the former 5-star recruit has never had a 1,000-yard season or scored double-digit touchdowns, nor has he averaged more than five yards per carry over the course of a season. That's not what Texas expected when it landed the record-breaking running back
No, Gray hasn't even come close to to meeting the Earl Campbell-Ricky Williams-level expectations he arrived with. There's no other way to put it.
But the shifty back's performance has been as much about bad luck as anything. He was on pace for 1,000 yards as a sophomore before tearing his Achilles against West Virginia, which robbed him of his explosiveness well into the 2014 season.
Once that elite burst returned, Gray looked like a star again. Before the offensive line collapsed against TCU and Arkansas, he was in the middle of a career-best stretch in which he needed only 43 carries to pile up 259 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
As we enter Gray's senior year, expect those numbers to be closer to the norm. He's healthy, the Horns have moved back to the uptempo attack that gave him so much running room in 2013 and the offensive line should be much better.
Without much competition for feature-back work, the elusive 1,000-yard season is well within reach for Texas' senior ball-carrier.
Grabbing and hanging on to elite offensive line talent has been a real problem for Texas of late. Former 4-star take Sedrick Flowers is one of the few who has stuck around, but we've yet to see his best.
After excelling in a sixth-man role in 2013, Flowers looked ready to push for All-Big 12 consideration last season. Instead, he struggled with the rest of a patchwork group that never was able to field its best talent because of injuries and disciplinary issues.
Expected to play between the massive Desmond Harrison and three-year starter Dom Espinosa, Flowers had to make do with first-time starters Marcus Hutchins, Taylor Doyle and Jake Raulerson. For context, Hutchins spent all of 2013 as a defensive tackle.
Hutchins and Doyle should be much improved, and the crew of fresh talent from the 2015 class should help both with depth and overall competition. Ultimately, Flowers should be able to settle in and handle his assignment rather than trying to clean up the mess around him.
He has an interesting ceiling playing with a more stable group.
LB Dalton Santos or LB Peter Jinkens
Both Jinkens and Santos came in as touted 4-star recruits who immediately busted into the two-deep rotation. Since then, they've mostly been relegated to the sideline for various on-field deficiencies.
Now they're both seniors and are all that stand in the way of an all-freshman group of linebackers. One of these two has to rediscover his mojo to give the Horns some leadership at the second level of the defense.
Really, it'll be which player's shortcomings the coaches can deal with most easily.
Jinkens has always had the athletic ability to be a good, rangy Big 12 linebacker. However, he has a tendency to misread and overpursue, which is why his playing time has decreased since his freshman campaign.
Santos has the opposite problem. He's a true middle linebacker who finishes tackles and does a good job deciphering what's happening in front of him, but he has trouble getting into position due to a lack of speed.
Malik Jefferson and Edwin Freeman are both tremendous talents, but the two freshmen need some leadership. Both Jinkens and Santos would provide it, and whoever ends up winning out will be in line for a lot of work, as Jordan Hicks and Steve Edmond combined for over 275 tackles last season.
Honorable Mention: QB Jerrod Heard
Every player listed above was a Top247 recruit who has underachieved through at least three years of experience but has the talent and opportunity to turn it around in 2015.
Jerrod Heard has never had the chance to underachieve, as no college player can be considered a bust with less than two years to catch up to the competition. Some players just aren't built for instant impact.
However, Heard has been on a collision course with the starting quarterback job since he committed as the nation's No. 2 dual threat in August 2012. Eventually emerging as a two-time state champion, the gifted athlete showed off that "it" factor Texas needed.
So, is it fair to say the time is now for Heard to take the reins and start leading Texas back to the top of the conference? Probably not.
But Heard's athleticism is the closest thing to an elite trait the Horns have had at the position in quite some time, per InsideTexas' Sean Adams. When you're the quarterback, everyone wants to see that special talent as early as possible.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats and information courtesy of TexasSports.com and 247Sports.
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