Texas Football: 4 most disappointing Longhorns through 4 games
1) Most disappointing Texas football players: Jake Smith
There really are a multitude of reasons why the Longhorns could be seeing a lot of growing pains out of the former Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year and elite four-star recruit Jake Smith early in the 2020 season. After getting high expectations and more pressure placed on his shoulders entering his second year with Texas, the elusive 6-foot and 200 pound sophomore wide receiver hasn’t lived up to the hype yet.
It all started out pretty rough for Smith this fall, with a non-COVID-19 related illness and a lingering hamstring injury causing him to miss most of the snaps for the Longhorns through four games. Smith even reaggrevated that hamstring injury in the loss to Oklahoma last weekend. But it is good that the Longhorns are heading into a bye week and Smith gets a chance to rest and return to practice healthier.
A few other reasons why Smith might be off to a slow start includes the added role as the starting slot receiver, new offensive system under Yurcich, and a new wide receivers coach in Andre Coleman.
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Nonetheless, the Longhorns do need Smith to be better. He’s only got snaps in one game this season, where he registered six catches for 49 receiving yards and one touchdown in the loss to TCU. He also had a costly drop on a wide open crossing route when Texas could’ve started pulling away against the Horned Frogs. There was also a big offensive pass interference call against Smith in that game.
The problem that Smith might face moving forward is the pressure put on his starting role from the former five-star recruit and redshirt freshman wide receiver Jordan Whittington.