QB competition heating up on the 40 Acres

Texas quarterback Jerrod Heard’s recent shoulder injury has him sidelined for the remainder of the spring, head coach Charlie Strong announced at Tuesday’s post-practice media availability. Heard, a sophomore, sprained his shoulder last week in practice but is expected to recover in time for fall camp.

With Heard rehabbing the shoulder, the spring quarterback competition appears to be heating up between senior Tyrone Swoopes and true freshman Shane Buechele.

Swoopes started last season’s opener in South Bend against Notre Dame, a contest the Longhorns lost 38-3, but was forced to relinquish the job to Jerrod Heard prior to the next game against Rice. The senior is no stranger to competing for the starting role, and he is focused on finishing his career at Texas in control of the offense as the Texas quarterback.

Swoopes brings playing time and experience to the table in his effort to regain the starting job for the Longhorns when the season opens on September 3^rd. Charlie Strong, now headed into his 3^rd year as head coach, says he has seen progress in Swoopes.

“He’s mature and much better now. He’s going to get better. As you get older you have to get better. There’s no need, you should. What we’re asking him to do on offense, he’s doing those things, so he’ll get better and improve. It just comes with age.”

But don’t expect Swoopes to be handed the job simply because of his status as an upperclassman or game experience. True freshman gunslinger Shane Buechele appears to be ahead of schedule, absorbing the playbook and making a legitimate push to start for the Longhorns when the 2016 campaign kicks off against Notre Dame.

Strong says the freshman’s abilities and persistence essentially make the others more focused and better.

“The knowledge of the offense. He is doing a really good job of it, just learning and picking it up. Shane is like a gym rat. He is always around, he is always learning, and is always willing to learn. When you get a player like that, it is only going to make the other two guys better because they see how hard he works. It drives them to work even harder. We would not be afraid to start him at all because I know that he would go out there and compete and do what we ask him to do.”

Redshirt freshman Kai Locksley hasn’t received the reps Swoopes, Heard and Buechele have received this spring. Charlie Strong would only comment that Locksley is “doing a good job, but he is just working through some things right now. “

While no clear candidate has risen above the other this spring, Strong sees no reason right now to name a starting quarterback.

“You have to allow them to compete and let it play its way out. If it takes that we have to go into the fall camp and then pick a guy, then that’s what we will do.”

Fans will get a glimpse of the quarterbacks at the annual Orange-White scrimmage on Saturday, April 6^th at 1:00 PM.