Bumping this thread to bring back the convo for 2025. I’d give the award to Broughton for 2024 (see my pre-season post upthread for why)
This year’s candidates are:
- Will Stone. Yeah he’s been our kickoff specialist, but if Shipley gets injured and he hits some big kicks in postseason play, he could become a legend and fit the spirit of the award
- Connor Robertson. He played significant snaps once against OU as a RS freshman. He’s pretty much been forgotten about since, so he’s a good candidate, but likely only gets his chance in the case of injuries
- Neto Umeozulu. The overwhelming favorite. Despite the many calls for him to replace Hayden Conner, Neto has barely played and not looked particularly good in the limited action we’ve seen. Frankly, he might be the biggest question mark of all projected starters currently (which is not nearly the negative it was a few years ago). A good year for Texas likely means Neto gets to take home this illustrious award
The current group of transfers are non-starters in my eyes. Campbell, Hutson, Taaffe, Guilbeau, and Burke have played too much and too well to be eligible. The rest of the 2022 class is either in a NFL training camp or transferred out.