Stock Up: Tyrone Swoopes
He wasn’t perfect, but Swoopes finally looked like he belonged as the starting quarterback as he outplayed Oklahoma’s Trevor Knight in the Red River Rivalry. He was terrible against Baylor at home and admitted to being nervous. That wasn’t a good sign heading into arguably Texas’ most nerve racking game of the season at the Cotton Bowl. The nerves were obvious as he threw a pick-six early on, but he bounced back very nicely, leading Texas to the end zone on the very next possession to keep the game close. And when Oklahoma went up, 31-13, Swoopes played his best football, nearly leading Texas to a come-from-behind victory. He also scampered for 50 yards and a touchdown, and that number doesn’t include the 73-yarder that got called back.
Stock Down: Marcus Johnson
The drops are starting to add up. Johnson’s numbers weren’t that bad: seven catches for 93 yards. But, dig a little deeper, and you can see he hurt Texas with some costly drops. The junior receiver was supposed to be the top deep threat for Texas this year but has fallen behind seniors Jaxon Shipley and John Harris on Swoopes’ go-to list. Even when he finally had a big catch and seemed to break free with a clear path to the end zone, Johnson kept checking over his shoulder and ran diagonally, allowing Oklahoma defenders to catch him before he could score.
Stock Up: John Harris
What a turnaround for Harris from last year. He seems to be the only receiver capable of finding the end zone, having scored six touchdowns for the Longhorns already. No other Texas receiver has a single touchdown as junior tight end M.J. McFarland is the only other player to catch a touchdown this season. After four years in the shadows, Harris is making his final year on the 40 Acres worthwhile.
Stock Up: Duke Thomas
This guy is brimming with confidence right now. After a really rough start to the year, which saw other teams pick on him, Thomas has completely turned his game around. The Sooners only completed six passes to receivers, and four of those were to junior Sterling Shepard, who was being covered by the other corner, senior Quandre Diggs. Thomas was dominant against Kansas three weeks ago and hasn’t slowed down.
