Freshmen need to focus on game and get off Twitter, Heard says,
Horns hope to have injured Johnson back for OU game.
Jerrod Heard delivered a message on Tuesday to his social-media crazed teammates.
With his mouth, not his thumbs.
It’s time to log off Twitter, the Texas quarterback said.
A day after several freshmen responded angrily via Twitter to claims by a teammate that they weren’t working hard enough, Heard said he’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.
And he is even willing to break one of coach Charlie Strong’s five core values — no stealing — to make sure it gets done.
“I’m gonna delete their Twitter,” said Heard, a redshirt freshman. “You ain’t even gotta worry about that.
“I’m about to take their phones and delete their Twitter. That whole class, they love Twitter. They love it too much.”
A refresher: At Monday’s news conference, junior safety Dylan Haines attributed some of Texas’ problems to the team’s freshmen wanting to play on Saturdays but not work hard on the other days.
Haines’ comments struck a nerve almost immediately.
Freshman defensive end Charles Omenihu tweeted, “People get in front of the cameras and just talk they heads off. Always remember think before you speak.”
Freshman tight end DeAndre McNeal posted a lengthy response that included “us FRESHMAN are go getters.”
The exchange was troubling, after Strong arranged not one, but two team meetings in the wake of Saturday’s 50-7 loss at TCU that dropped the Horns to 1-4.
Heard, who will make his fifth start on Saturday against Oklahoma, said it’s on him as a team leader to calm the locker room.
“I’ve taken that role as a leader to tell those guys to chill out, that you don’t have to do that stuff to get your point across,” Heard said.
Heard downplayed the conflict, suggesting the freshmen were “just bored.”
“They were looking for favorites and retweets,” he said.
Injury updates: Receiver Daje Johnson (head) and right tackle Kent Perkins (knee) did not fully participate in Tuesday’s practice, play-caller Jay Norvell said.
“Daje is day-to-day,” Norvell said. “He’s not totally back yet. We’re trying to get him back. We’re hopeful he’ll be ready to play by the weekend.”
New trial date: Offensive line coach Joe Wickline’s legal team asked to move the trial date from March to May in Oklahoma State’s breach-of-contract lawsuit against him, a source familiar with the case said. The new trial date is May 10.
This also moves the scheduled discovery dates, according to court records.
OSU officials have asked for another round of depositions with Strong, his assistants, former athletic director Steve Patterson and quarterback Tyrone Swoopes.
It’s unclear whether UT will let that happen.
Interim Texas AD Mike Perrin has called the suit a “distraction.”
However, the university is not named as a party in the lawsuit and is under no legal obligation to force settlement talks.
Bevo ailing: Bevo XIV, Texas’ mascot, will not attend Saturday’s Oklahoma game in Dallas due to a life-threatening condition being monitored by veterinarians, the school announced.
Bevo XIV has served as mascot since 2004. The current longhorn steer, which has stood on the sideline for some of the biggest wins over the last decade, weighs 2,100 pounds and has a horn span measuring 82 inches tip to tip.
Bevo XIV’s current record stands at 106-41.
Tickets remain: Texas officials said the athletic department still has 2,400 tickets left in the north end zone for Saturday’s game.