Texas Football: Ranking every starting quarterback from the last decade

Dual-threat quarterbacks didn’t work out too well for the Texas football program under the direction of former head coach Charlie Strong. The best example of that fact is the career numbers and efficiency of the humongous 6-foot-4 and 250 pound former Texas starting quarterback Tyrone Swoopes.

An NFL free agent tight end at the moment, Swoopes was a good athlete but never could get the whole passing accuracy factor down path. He finished his Longhorns career with a 56.3 completion percentage and 17 touchdowns through the air along with 13 interceptions. He also barely had more than 3,000 passing yards in his college career.

Swoopes really took the reigns as the Texas starting quarterback in the first year under the direction of Strong, back in 2014. When Strong took the reigns for the Longhorns, coming over after his stint with the Louisville Cardinals, he wanted to instill a run-heavy offense that utilized the skill set of a true powerful dual-threat signal caller.

When Strong started to shift Swoopes into more of a running role instead of passing in 2015, his numbers on the ground skyrocketed. He combined for more than 600 rushing yards and a whopping 19 touchdowns on the ground in his final two years in Austin. He totaled 966 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns in his entire career.

Swoopes might’ve been better served as a quarterback/tight end hybrid instead of a true quarterback. He did well in that famous “18-wheeler” package that Strong ran in 2015 and 2016, but that was about the most effective scheme he could run.