Texas football: 5 great Longhorns who were NFL busts

It’s no surprise that one of the most productive wide receivers in Texas football history happened to play with the owner of the record books at quarterback, Colt McCoy. However, just because he was a key cog in one of the most prolific offenses in school history shouldn’t count against Jordan Shipley for the work he was able to put in throughout his time playing for the Longhorns.

Over his first two seasons seeing the field in Austin in 2006 and 2007, Shipley wasn’t necessarily the biggest target for McCoy in the passing offense. As a redshirt freshman, he played in 13 games but had only 16 catches for 229 yards, though with four scores. The next season, he upped it to 27 receptions with 417 yards and five scores.

Shipley truly exploded onto the scene the next year, however, as he emerged as McCoy’s favorite target. He went out and registered 89 catches for 1,060 yards and 11 scores. He bettered that in his final season with the Longhorns, exploding for single-season record 116 catches, 1,485 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also finished as the school’s career leader in receptions while finishing second in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

At only 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, Shipley slipped into the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft before being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals. And while he had 52 catches for 600 yards and three scores as a rookie playing 15 games, he played in just nine more games over his career with only 27 catches and 258 yards in that span before officially retiring in 2014.