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Jerrod Heard closes the gap but Tyrone Swoopes No. 1 QB at Texas

By Patrick Schmidt

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Jerrod Heard is closing the gap but after Texas’ spring game on Saturday, Tyrone Swoopes is still the No. 1 quarterback for the Longhorns.

The quarterback competition is the No. 1 storyline facing second-year head coach Charlie Strong with Tyrone Swoopes trying to hold off Jerrod Heard for the starting job.

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Swoopes, the incumbent starter was 17-of-31 passing for 159 yards in the spring game on Saturday afternoon but is feeling the heat from the challenger in Heard who has narrowed the gap, but Strong is sticking with Swoopes as his starter, for now.

“I don’t want to turn this into a quarterback controversy,” Strong said, via the Dallas Morning News. “When you look at it, Tyrone has come into the spring as a starter. I don’t know that Heard has done anything yet to unseat him as a starter. I said he’s closed the gap, which is what you want.

“Ty is still the No. 1 guy at this point.”

The “at this point” tells me Strong thinks the door is open for Heard to seize control of the competition later this summer when camp opens in preparation for the regular season opener against Notre Dame.

Heard was 20-of-29 passing, including starting with nine straight completions for 177 yards against the No. 1 defense and capped his first drive off with a rushing touchdown. He’s the more natural runner of the two and a true dual-threat at the position.

Both Swoopes and Heard should thrive in Shawn Watson’s offense where their athletic ability will allow them to make plays on the move and not sitting in the pocket.

The former Denton Guyer standout who won two state titles in high school doesn’t have the in-game experience as Swoopes who despite his struggles has 12 starts on Heard, which could be the tie-breaker if the two fail to separate themselves between now and the Sept 5 opener in South Bend.

Strong hopes he won’t have to face an experienced Notre Dame team with a redshirt freshman behind center in his first career start, but it’s also something he won’t be afraid to do.

Heard said he likes the big stage and wouldn’t be intimidated by Touchdown Jesus and a national TV audience if his number is called and he’s the starter, or even if he plays in certain packages as a compliment to Swoopes. And he shouldn’t be intimidated by the big stage. If he was, he wouldn’t have committed to the Texas Longhorns.

Whether it’s Swoopes or Heard, the competition figures to be one of the most important position battles in Austin and all of college football, because if Texas doesn’t have the right guy it will be another season that falls short of expectations for Texas and out of contention for the Big 12 championship.

Who do you think wins the quarterback competition?

Next: Ranking the Big 12 QB's Entering Spring Practice?

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