Texas Football: 3 early Longhorns Heisman Trophy candidates

3. Jake Smith, Wide Receiver

Prior to the beginning of his freshman campaign with the Texas football program, the former Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year and wide receiver Jake Smith had a lot of building hype. Smith was a sensational and versatile playmaker on offense and special teams coming out of Notre Dame Preparatory in Scottsdale, AZ.

This former four-star recruit that ranked among the top 50 2019 high school prospects in the nation put together a decent start to his first season on the Forty Acres. But his production dwindled off a bit down the stretch. The Longhorns started to get banged up, and the reliance on the ground game got to be a little too much in Big 12 play last year.

Smith totaled up 283 total yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns on 27 touches throughout his true freshman campaign. He started off hot, but his lack of consistent route running/catching ability and one big slip up on special teams started to see his role die down. After Texas beat the Kansas Jayhawks back on Oct. 19, Smith had less than 100 receiving yards and one touchdown the rest of the way.

The Longhorns were also very fortunate to have such a deep receiving corps last year. The senior star wideout duo of Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay gave Ehlinger a lot to throw to. Hence other younger wide receivers like Smith and Brennan Eagles didn’t get as much work as they possibly could have.

Smith will have to compete with redshirt freshman former five-star Cuero wide receiver recruit Jordan Whittington for touches in the passing game this year. But he should be the next candidate to breakthrough for the Longhorns in the receiving corps.