Schooler feels snug in secondary
6th-year transfer safety had spent several seasons at wide receiver
AUSTIN — Brenden Schooler didn’t mind playing wide receiver for the past four years. The position fit fine, if imperfectly, like a glove that left a bit too much space at the fingertips.
But safety fits snugly for the sixth-year senior. And Schooler has slipped right back into the secondary with ease, surprising some Texas teammates who didn’t know what the transfer receiver with cascading blond locks could do on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage.
“Man, he surprised me,” Texas senior corner D’Shawn Jamison said in April following the Orange-White game. “My guy, he’s a dog. I really love the way he comes out and hits. He shows that he can cover. He’s one of the players that showed me and surprised me that he could actually play both sides of ball and execute on both.”
“Balled all spring ball,” added senior defensive tackle Keondre Coburn.
Half a decade ago, Schooler looked like a future All-Pac 12 safety. He appeared in all 12 games and made 10 starts at safety as a true freshman in 2016, leading Oregon with four interceptions while recording 74 tackles.
The unheralded recruit’s sterling debut still didn’t convince Oregon to keep Schooler in the secondary. Instead, he moved to receiver, a position he’d played in high school but wasn’t exactly recruited for.
“I definitely feel more comfortable at safety than I do receiver,” Schooler said
Tuesday. “I definitely love playing receiver, don’t get me wrong. It’s pretty fun scoring touchdowns. But out of high school, I was recruited as a safety, so played defense all of my high school career and sprinkled in receiver. I love playing safety. I feel super comfortable back there.”
Schooler’s turned in middling production over the following two seasons — 26 games, 13 starts, 41 catches, 477 yards, four touchdowns — before a foot injury ransacked him of nearly the entire 2019 campaign. He transferred to Arizona ahead of the 2020 season to play alongside brother and star linebacker Colin Schooler, then scrambled to secure a transfer to Texas last August after the Pac-12 postponed the fall football season because of COVID-19.
With just a couple weeks in Austin to acclimate to a new system, new playbook, new environs, new teammates and coaches, Schooler struggled. He busted out with nine receptions for 123 yards and two scores over Texas’ first two games, but added just three catches for 17 yards the remainder of the season while dealing with a nagging thigh contusion, though he remained a valuable special teams contributor.
The new coaching staff recognized where Schooler’s talents could be best utilized. And with No. 21 Texas’ Sept. 4 season opener against No. 23 Louisiana on the horizon, Schooler is set to serve as a starting safety once more.
“I think he’s been on a heck of a journey in his college football career,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday. “You end up at your third Power Five school, you’ve changed positions, you’ve changed head coaches. I joke with him sometimes that I don’t know if there’s a speech I could give the team that he has never heard before. He’s probably heard it from somewhere, from somebody.
“But I love his approach. I think he’s a guy who appreciates his opportunity. And obviously, because of his experience on offense and on defense, I think he has a really high football IQ. So all those things add up to he’s a really valuable piece of the puzzle for us defensively and on special teams.”
Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski place a premium on creating turnovers. So they’ve spent this first offseason in Austin identifying players who can generate havoc and force offensive mishaps, something Schooler once proved capable of at Oregon.
That ability is why he’s in line to start the Longhorns’ opener at Royal-Memorial Stadium. And to be honest, the 6-foot-2, 206-pound Schooler is just as excited about laying the wood as he is about picking off passes.
“I think I can really get deep and protect the deep ball, and also come down in the run game,” Schooler said. “I’m not really afraid to come down and hit, so just flying in there and making plays when I can.
“And I think what I’ve done to put myself in this position is just work hard and have faith that things will happen if you work hard and you trust the process and you come in with that, you know, lunch pail, blue-collar work ethic every day.”