Texas Football: 4 biggest disappointments for Longhorns from first half

Isaiah Neyor, WR

Another instance of a talented Longhorns player not seeing the field much in the first half of the regular season is redshirt junior wide receiver Isaiah Neyor. The former Wyoming transfer wasn’t much of a factor in any game for the Longhorns in the first half-dozen games of the season.

Neyor has only taken live-game reps in one game this season, which came in the opener on Sep. 3 against the Rice Owls. Neyor got eight offensive snaps against Rice. He was targeted twice against Rice, resulting in one catch for 14 receiving yards on a bullet of a pass from redshirt freshman backup quarterback Maalik Murphy.

Coming into the season, it felt like Neyor would be a contributor among Texas’ top four or five wideouts. Neyor was a full participant in fall practice for the first time since he suffered the season-ending ACL tear in fall camp last year.

But it appears that Neyor is still working his way back to 100 percent physically, and thus showing he’s ready to contribute to the passing game in live-game situations this fall. Sark echoed this message in a press conference in late September regarding Neyor’s status.

"“First of all, physically he’s great. It’s like anything when you have an injury like that, there’s a mental component to it too. I see some really good days. I see some days when it doesn’t feel as good. The challenge for him is finding that level of consistency day in and day out of what he brings and an understanding of what we’re doing.”"

Junior boundary receiver Adonai Mitchell has taken the reps on the outside in this offense that were meant for Neyor in this role last fall before he suffered the season-ending knee injury. Mitchell is off to a career-best start with his receiving numbers this season, posting 25 catches for 354 receiving yards and four touchdowns in six games.