Texas Longhorns

Horns need repeat performance from Hassan Ridgeway

Published Sep. 30, 2015 10:40 p.m. ET

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The hype his impressive performances from 2014 created for 2015 had fallen flat through three games, and the man tasked with replacing first-round draft pick Malcom Brown looked like maybe he was a flash in the pan.

Then came last Saturday and Texas Longhorns defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway, healthy after finally shaking some nagging injures, came through with a breakout effort. The 6-foot-3, 314-pounder tallied six tackles, a big-time sack and a 34-yard rumble for a touchdown that's still shaking the Internet.

The question now is if the big man has more big performances in him for a defense that desperately needs it. Especially this week against Heisman candidate quarterback Trevone Boykin and the explosive, fourth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs (4-0, 1-0 Big 12).

Ridgeway's impact was evident up the middle, limiting the Oklahoma State running attack when previous teams had continually gashed the Longhorns. 

"I guess it was something he ate that morning,” Longhorns Peter Jinkens said to the Austin American-Statesman. “When someone plays like that, with his size and weight, it’s impressive. If we can get him to play like that every week, we’ll be all right.” 

And so that is the question: Is Ridgeway a flash in the pan, or is there more where that came from?

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