Tom Herman details decision to name Devin Duvernay a team captain

The Texas Longhorns entered the season with five team captains — junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger, senior receiver Collin Johnson, senior center Zach Shackelford, senior defensive end Malcolm Roach, and senior safety Brandon Jones.

Yet another team leader joined that handful of Longhorns earlier this week, as Texas revealed on Wednesday that head coach Tom Herman has named senior receiver Devin Duvernay as a captain, as well.

The midseason move to honor Duvernay as a captain is a rare one for Herman. Throughout what’s now his fifth season as a head coach — three at Texas and two at Houston — this is just the second example of Herman recognizing a new captain once the season got underway.

“I’ve done it once before — Tyus Bowser — at the University of Houston; we promoted him to a captain midseason,” Herman said this week. “To be honest with you, I’m embarrassed that it kind of slipped my mind. I probably should have led that charge,” Herman added in regards to Duvernay not being name a captain ahead of the season.

“Thankfully, Tope Imade of all people came up to me and said, ‘coach, have you thought about — I don’t know the rule, I don’t know how this works — but everybody really respects Devin,’ and he asked ‘would you ever think about [promoting him to captain] midseason.’ I thought about it; it sounded like a great idea,” Herman said, calling the decision a “no-brainer.”

Herman then took his decision to the team’s aforementioned five captains, which Herman said were fired up about Duvernay joining them as a recognized leader for the Longhorns.

“He gets to spend the rest of his senior year as a captain.”

Texas’ newest team captain is currently tied for second nationally with 45 receptions and his 463 yards is currently the second-best effort in the Big 12.