Brett Davis: USA TODAY Sports
With the kick-off to the college football season just around the corner, Rant Sports is previewing members of the 2013 Texas Longhorns. Today, we take a look at true freshman quarterback, Tyrone Swoopes.
Swoopes entered into his final season with the Whitewright Tigers (Whitewright, TX) as one of the top 5-star quarterback prospects in the nation, however, his team struggled his senior year and finished the season a disappointing 1-9. Though he was still heavily recruited by most of the top programs in the country, many teams started to offer Swoopes as an athlete rather than a QB. Regardless, Texas was set on keeping the 6-foot-4, 245-pound dual-threat option at quarterback.
Swoopes, an early enrollee, had an outstanding spring with the Longhorns. Among the young quarterbacks, it was he who stood out most in the Orange and White spring game. Though he didn’t play much, going 2-for-2 for 11 yards passing and rushing for 26 yards on four carries, he showed a tremendous amount of strength and electricity, leaving many fans hungering for more and wondering if he could be the future of Texas.
At the conclusion of spring practices, the chatter out of Austin was that Swoopes very well could enter this season as the Horn’s No. 2 quarterback, surpassing Case McCoy as David Ash‘s back-up. Soon after, fellow reserve quarterback Connor Brewer transfered to the University of Arizona, adding even more fuel to the fire that Swoopes could very-well play his way into the primary back-up role.
So far this summer, however, expectations for the young quarterback have tempered a shade. Though Swoopes has no doubt shown flashes, he has struggled a bit with accuracy, like any young quarterback trying to adjust to the speed of the college game. With Jalen Overstreet, despite his recent move from quarterback to tailback, taking snaps under center this summer and playing in the “Wild Horn” formation, many fans are wondering if Swoopes will instead redshirt this fall.
That isn’t to say that Swoopes isn’t the future quarterback at Texas; he very well could be. He is certainly a true dual-threat quarterback and has already shown that he is capable of wreaking havoc on defensives; nevertheless, perhaps sitting a year and getting used to the college game would be best for Swoopes. After all, fellow Longhorns Vince Young and Colt McCoy benefitted greatly from redshirt seasons.
So whether or not fans see him on the field this season remains to be seen, but one thing is certain; over the next few years, Tyrone Swoopes is a player that Texas Longhorns fans should be excited about watching.
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