The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
One to watch: Kasey Studdard
09.22.2004 | Football
Even though University of Texas sophomore offensive guard Kasey Studdard technically grew up in Lone Tree, Colorado, a small suburb south of Denver, he has always been a Longhorn at heart.
Studdard does not have many recollections of watching his dad, Dave, play offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos. In fact, Kasey wasn't even born until midway through his father's 10-year career with the Broncos (1979-88). "I've seen films of him playing," Studdard said. "I remember little things like going into the locker room after a game, but I don't remember seeing him do things on the field."
But he does recall the stories.
No, not the stories of what his father did on the field with the Broncos. Rather, he remembers hearing the stories told about legendary UT running back Earl Campbell.
You see, Dave Studdard played offensive tackle at The University of Texas for three seasons (1975-77). While he was in Austin, he helped pave the way for Campbell to lead the nation in rushing (1,744 yards) en route to claiming the 1977 Heisman Trophy. It didn't hurt that Kasey's uncle, Les, also played offensive tackle with the Longhorns from 1978 to 1980 before moving on to a one-year stint with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1982.
Dave and Les loved to recite tales about Campbell during his time at Texas. And they loved to tell their own stories from their college years in Austin. Through those stories, Kasey Studdard grew to appreciate The University of Texas and its storied football program from afar.
As a child, he longed to one day attend college at UT and play for the Horns. But throughout most of his younger years, those ambitions remained a distant dream.
Studdard helped make this dream a reality as a four-year starter on the offensive and defensive lines at Highlands Ranch High School. A better defensive lineman than offensive player during his high school career by his own admission, he tallied 130 tackles and had eight sacks as a senior en route to earning first-team all-state accolades.
Yet in his mind, he never thought he would have the opportunity to come to school at Texas, much less make an impact on the Longhorns football team. That all changed when he was offered a football scholarship to UT and signed his National Letter of Intent in February 2002.
"I always wanted to play for Texas, but I never knew if I could," Studdard said. "It's such a good school academically, and it's got such a great football program. I was really blessed that this school gave me a chance to come here, because this is where I always wanted to go to college."
As quickly as Studdard learned to adapt to the academic regimen in Austin, the football part of his college life took a little longer to kick into gear. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2002 while he worked exclusively with the offensive line. As a redshirt freshman last year, he played in seven games as a backup offensive guard.
"My first two summers here, I didn't really know my steps and understand the plays that well," Studdard said. "Now, I've finally learned the little things that I needed to learn in order to get on the field and play." This past spring, the proverbial light switch turned on for Studdard. He turned heads with his improvement and emerged from fall practice as the starter at left guard.
"Kasey Studdard has always had a great motor," said Mac McWhorter, UT assistant head coach/offensive line. "He practices hard and plays hard. Kasey is real physical and intense. What he had trouble early on was learning and fine-tuning the technical side of playing on the offensive line, since he spent the majority of his time in high school playing defense. We're talking about steps, landmarks, assignments and those things.
"Technique-wise over the spring, he improved tremendously," McWhorter continued. "He is really starting to refine in those areas and he has kept all his positives, which is his aggressiveness. Kasey went from being not much of a factor last year (as a rotating second-team player) to earning a starting spot."
From Studdard's perspective, his accelerated development all boils down to one thing, confidence.
"I'm playing with a lot more confidence now that I've actually got into the mix and got a lot of reps," Studdard said. "The game is still fast, but I'm noticing a lot more things and my play is coming a lot easier to me than it has in the past."
He made his first two career starts versus North Texas and Arkansas this season and helped the offense to 673 total yards against UNT, the third-most in school history. That performance was followed by 409 yards at Arkansas, as the rushing attack surpassed 200 yards in both games, including amassing 513 against North Texas, the highest total since 1977 and the seventh-highest in UT history.
"The biggest thing is he has been at the position long enough and had enough reps to where he is soaked," McWhorter said. "He is starting to be really effective now and has turned into one heck of a player."
Studdard admits he is now living his childhood dream.
"Playing at Texas, I can't explain it," Studdard said. "It means so much, both to me and to my family. My dad and my uncle both played here. I'm getting the opportunity to play for Coach Brown, and he's a great coach. They had the opportunity to play for Coach Royal, and he was a great coach. It's such a great atmosphere and I love it."
