Four Days Until Kickoff: Who Was The Best No. 4?

[Blake Munroe]

Four days until kickoff and today’s countdown number has some serious Texas history behind it, as No. 4 has been worn by some absolute dudes.

Roy Williams finished his Texas career with 241 receptions, 3,866 yards and 36 touchdowns and, when he left Austin, he was the school’s career leader in all three categories. He was a three-time first-team All-Big 12 selection and remains one of the best receivers Texas has ever produced.

Phil Dawson was one of the most dependable kickers in school history. Dawson finished with 339 career points and 59 made field goals, earned All-America honors and eventually went into the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor.

Kenny Vaccaro brought a completely different style to No. 4. The hard-hitting safety finished with 264 career tackles, earned first-team All-America honors in 2012, was a two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection and became a first-round NFL Draft pick.

Limas Sweed totaled 124 catches for 1,915 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 2006 and was part of the 2005 National Championship team. 

DeShon Elliott put together one of the best seasons by a Texas defensive back in recent memory. Elliott picked off six passes in 2017, returned two for touchdowns, was a unanimous All-American and finished as a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.

Who y'all taking? Four days!

[smokeyiii]

Chocolate Daddy all day, every day!

[CHorn427]

Roy Williams hands down.

Side note:

Between Phil Dawson, Russell Erxleben, Justin Tucker and Michael Dickson, Texas has to be the greatest specialist U of all time, right?

[Deep in the heart]

I want to say Roy running away but Vaccaro was a bad man.

[nicray0920]

My instant pick is Roy but I'm an old school Dawson guy. I remember him hitting the GW against Michigan and then VY saying we'll be back! Hook Em!

[CHorn427]

25 minutes ago, nicray0920 said:

My instant pick is Roy but I'm an old school Dawson guy. I remember him hitting the GW against Michigan and then VY saying we'll be back! Hook Em!

That was Dusty Mangum

[Jeff Howe]

Take four minutes out of your day and watch Roy Williams destroy a Nick Saban/Will Muschamp defense. 

[Here for the Wins]

30 minutes ago, CHorn427 said:

That was Dusty Mangum

And almost a decade later. 
 

But Dawson versus Virginia.  It was legit one of the best plays I’ve ever seen.  It felt like the wind was trying to push the ball back over the goalpost after it had crossed.

[TexEx15]

DeShon Elliott was robbed of the Thorpe in what I believe is one of the biggest snubs that is never talked about. All because Texas was terrible that year. 

 

[Alex C]

3 hours ago, CHorn427 said:

Roy Williams hands down.

Side note:

Between Phil Dawson, Russell Erxleben, Justin Tucker and Michael Dickson, Texas has to be the greatest specialist U of all time, right?

How do you leave Dusty Mangum and Dicker the Kicker off the list?  We win with quality and quantity. 

[Alex Butler]

3 hours ago, nicray0920 said:

2 hours ago, Here for the Wins said:

And almost a decade later. 
 

But Dawson versus Virginia.  It was legit one of the best plays I’ve ever seen.  It felt like the wind was trying to push the ball back over the goalpost after it had crossed.

Roy all the way but Phil was such a badass! I remember that UVA game well. I was a middle schooler, our tickets were on the west side about 20 yard line second deck and you’re right that wind did not want that ball to go through! Phil was such a stud in the NFL too! 

[Deep in the heart]

3 hours ago, Jeff Howe said:

Take four minutes out of your day and watch Roy Williams destroy a Nick Saban/Will Muschamp defense. 

Man, I just never seen someone so awkward be such an elite athlete. It always looked like he was wearing flippers when he would run but he could still fly. Roy was incredible. I remember his recruitment too lol. Goes to show how old I am.

[Here for the Wins]

7 minutes ago, Alex Butler said:

Roy all the way but Phil was such a badass! I remember that UVA game well. I was a middle schooler, our tickets were on the west side about 20 yard line second deck and you’re right that wind did not want that ball to go through! Phil was such a stud in the NFL too! 

Yep awesome Kicker.  I was in the student section.  Don’t remember exactly what yardline but believe it was on the end of the field.

If I think about it, that’s for sure a moment I’d like to recapture.

A big Roy Williams fan.

[Alex Butler]

1 hour ago, Here for the Wins said:

Yep awesome Kicker.  I was in the student section.  Don’t remember exactly what yardline but believe it was on the end of the field.

If I think about it, that’s for sure a moment I’d like to recapture.

A big Roy Williams fan.

Absolutely! You’ll never meet a bigger Roy fan than me haha! Heres the kick for any others out there that haven’t seen it! Love Bill Schoening on the radio call (crazy that Craig Way was the color guy)! 

 

[DanielOnorato]

Roy Williams. I still have his lions jersey 

Edited 9 hours ago by DanielOnorato

[CHorn427]

8 hours ago, TexEx15 said:

DeShon Elliott was robbed of the Thorpe in what I believe is one of the biggest snubs that is never talked about. All because Texas was terrible that year. 

 

1 INT for a Thorpe winner is an utter joke

[CHorn427]

7 hours ago, Alex C said:

How do you leave Dusty Mangum and Dicker the Kicker off the list?  We win with quality and quantity. 

True, Dicker is a great for sure. Doing us proud in the pros. He had that one epic game winner vs OU, but other than that one was fairly quiet.

 

That was definitely a Top 20 play though for Texas in the 2000s so far.

Mangum was like Dicker without the pro success

Edited 2 hours ago by CHorn427

[McTexas7]

This might be a hot take but I don’t think it is hands down Roy. He was great until he played a good team, then he couldn’t do anything. 

[westx]

10 minutes ago, McTexas7 said:

This might be a hot take but I don’t think it is hands down Roy. He was great until he played a good team, then he couldn’t do anything. 

I never knew whether it was coaching against ou or Roy, but yea, ou seemed to neutralize him.  He wasn't horrible against ou by any means, but he was just a type of player that we needed to be used as a weapon and make ou stop him.  I will still take him as the best #4 tied with Dawson who had a 20 year NFL career and was money at Texas.

[CHorn427]

1 hour ago, McTexas7 said:

This might be a hot take but I don’t think it is hands down Roy. He was great until he played a good team, then he couldn’t do anything. 

This is actual BS.

He never had under 50 yds in a single loss from his Sophomore through Senior year.

He wasn’t a QB, obviously. Any WR can be neutralized. A very good RB can also be neutralized by stacking the box. Hell, a good QB can be neutralized by dropping 8 into coverage.

When that happens, the offense shifts to take advantage of the vulnerabilities made by the defense keying on The Dude. 
 

Roy Williams stats vs OU So through Sr (all losses)

So: 5 for 65

Jr: 2 for 68 (OU scored 35)

Sr: 7 for 89 (OU scored 65)

There was little Roy could have done to keep up with OU his Jr and Sr years.

 

 

[CHorn427]

1 hour ago, westx said:

I never knew whether it was coaching against ou or Roy, but yea, ou seemed to neutralize him.  He wasn't horrible against ou by any means, but he was just a type of player that we needed to be used as a weapon and make ou stop him.  I will still take him as the best #4 tied with Dawson who had a 20 year NFL career and was money at Texas.

OU scored 35 pts Roy’s Jr year and 65 his Sr year. I’d say Roy and the offense in general wasn’t the key issue those years.

[westx]

2 minutes ago, CHorn427 said:

OU scored 35 pts Roy’s Jr year and 65 his Sr year. I’d say Roy and the offense in general wasn’t the key issue those years.

Case in point

[mmdaytontexas]

1 hour ago, CHorn427 said:

This is actual BS.

He never had under 50 yds in a single loss from his Sophomore through Senior year.

He wasn’t a QB, obviously. Any WR can be neutralized. A very good RB can also be neutralized by stacking the box. Hell, a good QB can be neutralized by dropping 8 into coverage.

When that happens, the offense shifts to take advantage of the vulnerabilities made by the defense keying on The Dude. 
 

Roy Williams stats vs OU So through Sr (all losses)

So: 5 for 65

Jr: 2 for 68 (OU scored 35)

Sr: 7 for 89 (OU scored 65)

There was little Roy could have done to keep up with OU his Jr and Sr years.

 

 

Roy was great one, but there were a few huge drops at the worst times and I think people remember those. I remember one dropped TD in a Holday Bowl that we lost by a small margin to Oregon or Wazzup. He's still a solid #4 pick.