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Last year, Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Vance Bedford often provided what became regulard scouting reports on opposing quarterbacks.
On Friday, he was asked about the two Texas quarterbacks competing for the starting job and shared his thoughts on junior Tyrone Swoopes and redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard.
On Tyrone Swoopes
"I think if you look at Tyrone because he had a full year under his belt, you can see some maturity there. He's taken a leadership role. He's been a lot calmer in the pocket. He has a much better idea about what to do because we have adjusted the offense to fit both of their talents. I see a different guy."
On Jerrod Heard
"Heard, athletically I just have to say that he's difficult to contain. He can probably play wide receiver for a lot of teams and be a starter and all-conference player and he's back at quarterback. When he starts running around, you just shake your head. He's made a lot of our guys miss in the box and in space. He's very dangerous on the perimeter. You see two different type of football players."
So with Swoopes, Bedford is taking about tangible changes between snaps and during snaps from last year. Tangible development. Important changes that could help him take a significant step forward.
With Heard, it's still all about his athleticism, which is a skill that head coach Charlie Strong clearly intends to use against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the opener, but how notable is it that Bedford didn't mention his passing ability as he mentions how good he could be at another position?
There's no chance that Heard would move to wide receiver, but the way that Bedford talked about them is quite different. And there's a reason for that.
"You see two different type of football players," Bedford added.
So how the offense diverges to better fit the slightly different sklll sets of each player is a major storyline to watch moving forward, even as assistant head coach for the offense/quarterbacks coach Shawn Watson tries to downplay those differences.