I think the Heard factor and the UT QB situation have several dynamics / moving parts.
First IMO don't think the vast majority of our "informed" fans have given up on Heard.
He red shirted and has not seen the field this season. Unless you have been to any team practices, the problem for the rest of us is we just don't know what to believe about his on the field skills at this point. We have heard he is good and has "It", etc. The coaches have been positive in their praise of Heard while protecting him to some degree from a lot of fan scrutiny. When pressed for reasons he didn't or couldn't beat out Swoopes, the feedback has been such things as: Swoopes has a little more experience running the O & audibles, Heard needs to work on his passing game a little more, etc.
Heard was a highly recruited kid and UT wanted him. It is asking a lot of and putting a tremendous amount of pressure on a true freshman QB to come into an elite D-1 level program, be handed a War & Peace size playbook to learn, step on the field and run an offense they have never run before. In addition he must recognize, make decisions, quickly audible and execute correct plays against sophisticated defensive schemes while playing against highly skilled D players that have been playing 2, 3, 4 years at a D - 1 level.
I suspect CS and the coaches decided the kid has enough on his plate, he might just not be ready yet (higher risk) and that Swoopes was just a little a better option especially early in the season - this is all speculation on my part what may have gone into the decision to hold Heard back. Maybe too, the coaches thought Ash going out would put Swoopes in a position to quickly step up a level or two... (the jury is pretty much IN on that question).
After this past season with Swoopes, I think most of us are optimistic that Heard will be ready and can step up to take the reigns at QB. We should have a much better data on that after the spring game.
Hook 'Em!
