Texas Football: Notable numbers from the first two weeks for Longhorns

Yards per punt return for Brandon Jones

Texas was missing junior safety Brandon Jones in action against Tulsa, but he should be back for Week 3 against USC. In effect, the punt return game wasn’t as solid as it was in the first week of the season. Jones averaged nearly 20 yards per punt return against Maryland, including a set up to one of the biggest touchdowns of the game for Texas.

Moreover, Jones wound up with 56 punt return yardage on three tries against the Terps. Once Jones was missing against Tulsa, the elusive true freshman D’shawn Jamison took over those duties. Jamison looks to be more natural in the kick return game than he is returning punts. We’ll see if he continues to field punts.

Both Jones and Jamison have a pretty high level of athleticism to bring to the table, so each is a good candidate to return punts. They just have a different knack for working through that pressure than the rest of the team. Last season, Jones only got the chance to return one kick and no punts. He’s showing why he deserves this role this fall when healthy.

Someone needed to take the place of the transferred wide receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps in the punt return game. Jones looks to be that guy, and he’ll try to match the production of that of Hemphill-Mapps last year. He averaged punt return yardage in the double-digits and also had one touchdown.