Horns have 5 captains at the helm

The Longhorns are ready to steer straight into expectations with five fitting captains at the helm.

Texas named its team captains this week — three from the offensive side, two on defense — as head coach Tom Herman kept with tradition in naming multiple captains for the squad.

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Four seniors are joined by the most prominent junior on the team, with junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger, senior wide receiver Collin Johnson and senior center Zach Shackelford earning honors on offense, and senior defensive back Brandon Jones and senior defensive end Malcolm Roach representing the defense.

In each of Herman’s three seasons at the helm of the Horns he has opted for five captains, as voted on by the team.

The five were clearly excited about the honors and the anticipation continues to build toward the Aug. 31 opener against Louisiana Tech. Here’s a little bit more on each via texassports.com:

🔷 Ehlinger, an Austin, Texas native, played in and started all 14 games a season ago. He was named honorable mention All-Big 12 by the league’s head coaches and a semifinalist for the 2018 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award after finishing the year with 3,292 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and 16 more scores on the ground. His 16 rushing touchdowns are a UT record for quarterbacks and he is the first player in Texas history to pass for at least 25 touchdowns and rush for at least 15 in a season. Ehlinger’s 41 touchdowns responsible for in 2018 are the second-most in school history, trailing only Colt McCoy’s 45 touchdowns in 2008.

🔷 Johnson, a native of San Jose, Calif., is a fourth-year wide receiver who has played in 38 games with 22 starts during his UT career. He enters his senior season with 150 receptions (ninth-most in school history) for 2,065 yards (ninth-most in school history) and 12 touchdowns. In 2018, Johnson played in 13 games and was second on the team with 68 catches for 985 yards and seven touchdowns. Johnson set a Big 12 Championship Game-record last year with 177 receiving yards on nine catches with a touchdown against the Sooners. He concluded a productive junior season with three catches for 40 yards in the Longhorns’ 28-21 win over No. 5 Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

🔷 Jones, a native of Nacogdoches, Texas, is a fourth-year defensive back who has played in 34 career games with 23 starts. So far in 2019, he has been named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list and was a fourth-team preseason All-Big 12 selection by Phil Steele. In 2018, Jones was fourth on the team with 70 tackles (48 solo), made 5.5 tackles for loss, intercepted two passes, recovered two fumbles, logged one quarterback hurry and broke up one pass. He was named honorable mention All-Big 12 for his efforts as a junior.

🔷 Roach, a Baton Rouge, La. native, is a fourth-year defensive lineman who has played in 34 career games. Last year, Roach made 24 tackles (17 solo) with 1.5 tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and one pass breakup. He logged five tackles in the Big 12 Championship Game against Oklahoma and had four tackles in Texas’ 28-21 win over No. 5 Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

🔷 Shackelford, a Belton, Texas native, is a preseason watch list candidate for the Rimington Trophy and Outland Trophy after being named first-team All-Big 12 by the Associated Press and second team by the league’s coaches in 2018. Shackelford started 10 games last year, including a trio of top-20 wins over No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 18 Iowa State and No. 5 Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year, he enters his fourth season on the Forty Acres having played in 40 games, including 27 career starts.

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