Texas Football: 3 problematic Frogs players for the Longhorns

Taye Barber, WR

Although he’s never truly had that breakout season we’ve all expected out of him for a long time now, the production that Patterson and the Horned Frogs got out of standout senior wide receiver Taye Barber the last few seasons was still steady. Barber is still one of the top wideouts for the Horned Frogs.

Barber often lines up as the sole slot wideout for the Horned Frogs in this offense. Fifth-year offensive coordinator Doug Meachem likes to use Barber namely on deep and intermediate routes out of the slot this year, though. But there’s not really one area that you have to exclusively worry about Barber. He’s so elusive in the open field that Texas just has to consistently keep eyes on him anywhere.

Last season, Barber got nearly an equivalent number of yards from each level of the field. He can be used off the line of scrimmage in the screen game if he gets out in space, or in short curl routes. TCU can also get him open deep between the numbers and on the outside.

When you look at all of the clean routes that Barber is able to run, he really is a jack of all trades as a speedy wideout.

What makes Barber even more difficult to prepare for is the fact that he rarely makes mistakes. Barber doesn’t have any drops on the season so far. He’s caught an impressive 67 percent of the passes thrown his way in his career. That is all the way up to 78 percent so far this fall.

Texas is also no stranger to the numbers that Barber is able to put up against them. He’s got nearly 200 total yards from scrimmage in three outings against Texas in his career. And just as you would expect, there’s not just one way that the Horned Frogs used Barber to beat Texas in the past.

It will be huge for the likes of senior cornerbacks D’Shawn Jamison and Josh Thompson, and redshirt junior DB Anthony Cook to keep a close watch on Barber in this game.