When the clock strikes 0:00 tonight, it may be the last time that Tyrone Swoopes is under center for the Texas Longhorns. He has been inconsistent at best and the Longhorns' bowl game against Arkansas may be the final chance for him to prove that he still deserves a chance at a starting job.
Tyrone Swoopes finished the regular season with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Those are not the kind of numbers that Texas fans are thrilled with from their starting quarterback. While Swoopes is only a sophomore, in a football town like Austin, those numbers and a 6-6 record just won't cut it. On top of that, he struggled immensely against ranked opponents and the most recent memory in mind is Swoopes committing 6 turnovers in a season finale blowout by TCU. Following that game, Charlie Strong had this to say about his quarterback, "“He’s got my full support. The way we look at it right now, we’ve just got to go out and recruit and just go get better and make sure we develop what we have.”
Throughout the season, the coaches never wavered from publicly endorsing Swoopes, but in all honesty what other choice did they have. In fairness, Swoopes was not expected to be the starter this season and was rushed into action, but sometimes that is just how the cookie crumbles. With Ash out and Jerrod Heard not ready for game action, Swoopes was the only option at quarterback. He did show flashes of brilliance at times, but was never able to show sustained success. He came close in games against Oklahoma and UCLA, but he did nothing to prove that he could be the quarterback to lead to Texas back to national prominence or win the big time games.
Overall, he did not show noticeable improvement in his 11 games, and one can't help but think that fact alone may ultimately cost him this job. With a red shirt season under Heard's belt and highly touted recruit Zach Gentry arriving soon, Swoopes will need to show up in a big way against Arkansas to show that he is even worthy of consideration.
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