Texas Football: Deeper look into 4 Longhorns invited to 2020 NFL Combine

The biggest breakthrough of any individual player from the Texas football program last season came from Duvernay. The senior star wide receiver was one of the nation’s most productive wide receivers. He registered 106 catches for 1,386 receiving yards and 10 total touchdowns. He became a more reliable receiver in place of the former Texas star Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who declared early for the 2019 NFL Draft.

The drop in yards per catch for Duvernay wasn’t so much an indication of his lack of explosiveness, but an increase in the number of targets he got off the line of scrimmage and off intermediate routes. He’s showing that he can be an every-down receiver, and he was one of the undercover standouts at the Senior Bowl.

Running crisper routes and getting more separation are items that Duvernay needs to work on during this draft scouting process. Despite all his track level speed and deep threat ability, Duvernay doesn’t get near as much separation or as quick of a release as you would anticipate. That does need to be fixed during his development at the next level.

The 5-foot-11 Duvernay isn’t the prototypical big possession wide receiver, like his former teammate Johnson. But he does match the trend where the NFL is going right now with smaller and speedier wide receiver that have really good ball skills. The one place where he needs to tighten up his game, and can learn from players like Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill and Seattle Seahawks threat Tyler Lockett, is with tighter routes and quicker release time.