{"id":843531,"date":"2026-09-11T00:48:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T00:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843531\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T00:48:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T00:48:19","slug":"texas-freshmen-tracker-jermaine-bishop-samari-matthews-emerge-as-early-first-years-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843531\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas freshmen tracker: Jermaine Bishop, Samari Matthews emerge as early first-years to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Nearly half of the 27 first-year players for the Texas Longhorns saw playing time in the team\u2019s 59-7 home opener victory over its I-35 rivals, the Texas State Bobcats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">But of the 12 first-year players who saw playing time over the weekend, only four managed to record meaningful statistical entries \u2014 wide receiver Jermaine Bishop, running back Derrek Cooper, cornerback Samari Matthews, and linebacker Kosi Okpala.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Bishop shone with breakout potential all afternoon, as the first-year hands-man recorded two catches for 25 yards alongside his older peers, Ryan Wingo and Cam Coleman, the latter of whom transferred into the program after leaving Auburn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Meanwhile, on defense, Matthews is emerging as a freshman to watch after he left fans with a strong first impression that included a half sack and half tackles for loss after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burntorangenation.com\/texas-longhorns-football\/104213\/texas-longhorns-depth-chart-texas-state\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">earning a backup role<\/a> to sophomore Kade Phillips at cornerback. Other first-year players such as Meredith, Carlton, Wesley, and Okpala also recorded solo and assisted tackles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Two receptions on three targets with one drop, 25 yards receiving, 12.5 yards per catch, long of 18 yards in 10 snaps on offense after earning a co-backup role with sophomore Daylan McCutcheon in the slot. Bishop also played 10 snaps on kickoff coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Two carries, six yards, 3.0 yards per carry, long of five yards in three snaps before leaving the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury after earning a role as the third-team running back. The Florida product will remain in a boot for the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.burntorangenation.com\/texas-longhorns-football\/104343\/derrek-cooper-injury-texas-longhorns\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">foreseeable future<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Two total tackles, one solo, one assist, half tackle for loss, half sack in 10 snaps on defense and three snaps on kickoff coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">One solo tackle in 10 snaps on defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">One assist, one defensive stop, half tackle for loss in 10 snaps on defense and 10 snaps on kickoff coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">One assist and one missed tackle in 10 snaps on defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">One solo tackle and one defensive stop in 15 snaps on defense as the backup to junior Colin Simmons at the Jack end position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Saw playing time but did not record any statistics in seven snaps on defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Saw playing time but did not record any statistics in 10 snaps on defense and three snaps on kickoff coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Saw playing time but did not record any statistics in 10 snaps on defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Saw playing time but did not record any statistics in one snap on defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Showed up on the team\u2019s participation report, but did not have any snaps tracked by Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Lastly, here are the freshmen who didn\u2019t manage to get in the game:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly half of the 27 first-year players for the Texas Longhorns saw playing time in the team\u2019s 59-7&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99,41661,85234],"class_list":["post-843531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-longhorns-football-recruiting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}