Big 12’s Twelve Players To Watch In `09: No. 7 Jordan Shipley

Jordan Shipley – A.K.A “Sooner Killer”

Oklahoma knows all too well the game changing impact that Jordan Shipley can have on a football game. In last year’s Red River Shootout Shipley ran back a kickoff 96 yards after the Sooners had taken a 14-3 lead. Shipley’s touchdown stole the show in the Cotton Bowl as well as stealing the momentum from Oklahoma and changing the course of the came.

Shipley has a unique relationship with Colt McCoy that goes beyond just being roommates. Not only are the two pals but their fathers played college ball together as well. Above anyone else on the team you would have to think that McCoy trusts Shipley first and it showed on the field last season. Shipley set a UT record by recording a touchdown reception in each of the season’s first eight games.

When all was said and done, Shipley had caught 89 passes for 1,060 yards and 11 touchdowns while also returning 6 punts for 64 yards with a score and 11 kickoffs for 312 yards and the touchdown against the Sooners.

In addition to the game changing kickoff return against OU he also hauled in 11 receptions (a record for the series) for 112 yards and a touchdown earning him the right to be called a Sooner Killer. If you think that’s bad though consider what he did to Oklahoma State. Against the Cowboys he caught school record 15 passes for 168 yards. Against Texas Tech it was his 45 yard punt return early in the 3^rd quarter that brought the Longhorns back to life in a game where only a late 4^th quarter dropped interception kept them from winning.

Shipley returns for a 6^th year at Texas thanks to an NCAA granted medical hardship and will no doubt look to once again be a catalyst to one of the Big 12’s most potent offenses.