Jerrod Heard received text message from Vince Young after huge game

“An unbelievable performance by Jerrod”, coach Charlie Strong said.

The record-setting redshirt freshman’s fourth-quarter heroics provided a loud and clear statement that, after a frustrating five-year search, the Longhorns have finally figured out where they’re going at QB1.

The Texas Longhorns will be without freshman linebacker Edwin Freeman for 6-8 weeks because of a shoulder injury Freeman sustained during the Longhorns’ loss to Cal. With Heard at the helm, defensive tackle Poona Ford said: “It was like a brand new offense out there”. “If he’s not the answer, Strong has two years left to find one”.

First on the agenda is No. 24 Oklahoma State (3-0) as the Longhorns enter Saturday’s contest in Austin (2:30 p.m., ESPN) with a defense that ranks No. 118 among the nation’s 127 FBS schools in yards allowed (512.3 per game).

“It’s just the faith I have in my guys”, Heard said. What do we have to lose? Against Rice, he hit receiver John Burt in stride on a 69-yard touchdown pass.

“He told me he was proud of me”, Heard said of Young, who’s now a development officer in UT’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. His 45-yard burst on a quarterback draw late against Cal pulled Texas within a point before a missed extra point cost Texas a chance to force overtime. You know what’s going to happen?

Heard is just beginning his career at Texas, he is already the face of the Longhorns’ offense. No biggie. Heard only needed six plays to go all the way. And Texas couldn’t get that process on the right path without finding a difference-maker at quarterback.

McCoy’s last game for Texas came in Texas’ loss to Alabama for the 2009 season national championship and the Longhorns have been searching for star-power at the position ever since. He’s making $750,000 to make critical offensive decisions, yet he couldn’t see fit to start Jerrod Heard over Tyrone Swoopes last season? “He instills so much confidence in the team, just by his playmaking ability.” September . He saw running back Johnathan Gray bringing the team together to talk after the loss.

There’s still a lot of work to be done with this team and I don’t expect Jerrod Heard to put up these kind of numbers every week, but giving us a glance at what he can be and what he can do for this team feeds into the long-term.