Humphrey discovers his niche with one of UT’s top years by WR
AUSTIN — It was Nov. 29, 2013, in the aftermath of a heart-rending 42-38 loss to Euless Trinity in the Class 6A regional semifinals. That’s when Southlake Carroll coach Hal Wasson realized how much football meant to Lil’Jordan Humphrey.
At that point, Humphrey was still considering a life in basketball. It was his deepest passion, a game that had resonated with him since age 4. He was a member of the Carroll basketball team and spent summers with Texas Select — former hoops home to Texas Longhorns and Indiana Pacers star Myles Turner — on the AAU circuit.
But the loss to Trinity ate at Humphrey, then a sophomore running back. His red-zone fumble with just under six minutes remaining allowed the Trojans to erase almost the en-
tirety of the game clock.
Something clicked into place that day. Basketball would always have a piece of Humphrey’s heart, but football now owned the largest chunk.
Wasson realized what a unique talent Humphrey was. He started utilizing the fast-learning athlete in myriad ways, some traditional, others novel.
Bruising running back. Shifty kick returner. Jump-passing wildcat quarterback. Nothing seemed too tall an order.
Wasson said Humphrey picked up new play designs and schemes with ease, as if he could digest and absorb everything on first glance. He rushed for 1,828 yards and scored 32 touchdowns as a junior.
Humphrey made for an intriguing college prospect, difficult to pigeonhole into a particular position. Too tall for a running back at 6-4, most said. Some schools thought he’d make a fine linebacker. Others believed he had the build of a tight end.
He was ranked the nation’s No. 19 athlete when he committed to play for coach Charlie Strong at Texas. He was, in essence, a blank marble slab waiting to be transformed into something more defined.
As a project player, Humphrey began his college career at a steep disadvantage next to fellow 2016 recruits Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson, the nation’s No. 5 and No. 41 receivers, respectively.
“It’s been a rough journey,” Humphrey said. “Not knowing what you’re going to do as a receiver and being in such a highpowered receiver class and having receivers in front of me, I didn’t think I was going to see the field as much. But I got the opportunities and made the best of it.”
As a true freshman, Humphrey was rarely seen. He played here and there on special teams, caught a couple passes, spent time mining the depths of his teammates’ and position coach’s minds.
“That definitely pushed me,” Humphrey said of his place on the depth chart, “motivated me to work harder and figure out ways to get on their level since they’ve been playing receiver for the majority of their life.”
As a sophomore — with a new head coach in Tom Herman — Humphrey broke out against No. 10 TCU. He caught six passes for 109 yards. The next week he ran for a touchdown against Kansas. Two weeks later against Texas Tech, he completed a 27-yard pass to quarterback Sam Ehlinger on the game’s first snap.
There was a reason Herman described Humphrey as the Longhorns’ Swiss army knife heading into the 2018 season. But given how lethal he’s been this year, a pocket knife hardly seems the appropriate comparison with the team’s leading receiver. A broadsword is more apt.
Herman’s plan entering this campaign was to use Humphrey in the slot, with Johnson and Duvernay on the outside. He didn’t fit the typical dimensions of a slim, slithery slot receiver, but Humphrey had been bucking convention dating to his days as a towering running back.
That decision has played a monumental role in positioning 14th-ranked Texas (8-3, 6-2 Big 12) for a berth in the Big 12 championship game with a win Saturday at Kansas.
Humphrey leads the team with 70 receptions for 1,033 yards and eight touchdowns. Those numbers rank fifth, ninth, and ninth, respectively, in the program’s single-season record book.
“He's really starting to be a technician,” Herman said. “I think last year he got by because he's just so football smart and could feel his way around things. Now, I think you're seeing him really kind of dissect coverages and man techniques. Is he outside leverage, inside leverage, headup leverage? Is he a jam guy? Is he an off guy?”
Humphrey goes 6-5, 225 pounds. He moves like a warhorse: fearless and reckless.
Safety Brandon Jones swears he’s never seen Humphrey dragged down by a single tackler. It takes a gang. And sometimes even that’s not enough.
His pile-driving antics have already become embedded in Forty Acres lore.
Take his 19-yard reception against Oklahoma. First contact was made about 5 yards past the line of scrimmage, but Humphrey plowed forward for another 14 yards, churning his legs forward as one, two, three and eventually seven crimson jerseys converged on him.
Herman called it the play of the game in the Longhorns’ 48-45 win. And Humphrey has made a habit of refusing to be taken down, like he’s still trying to atone for that fumble in high school.
“There's definitely an added energy that he brings when he plays so physically,” Herman said. “Whenever you see your culture embodied in a play or a player, you want to celebrate it and shoot fireworks off and shine spotlights on it and the whole nine.”
Said Humphrey: “That’s just my mentality. That’s what I live and breathe every day.”