The University of Texas Hall of Honor in the north end zone of Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin houses a treasure of memorabilia commemorating the accomplishments of Longhorn legends and the university announced three former Texas High School Football stars will join that group.
UT announced that Jamaal Charles (Port Arthur Memorial, Jordan Shipley (Burnet) and David Thomas (Wolfforth Frenship) have been selected to the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor on Wednesday. The trio is a part of class that includes 13 athletes and one coach.
The trio were stars under the Friday Night Lights before coming to Austin and helping Texas Football maintain a spot of national prominence during their respective tenures on campus in the 2000s.
Charles played for the Longhorns from 2005 to 2007, was a three-time all-Big 12 selection, won 10 or more game each season and was a freshman on the 2005 BCS National Championship team.
He was named the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year during Texas’ 2005 championship seasons and posted 3,328 yards rushing yards and 36 touchdowns on 533 attempts in college. Charles had a total of 11 games where he rushed for 100 yards or more.
Charles went on to play 11 years in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars, was a two-time all-pro, including garnering a first-team honor.
Many Longhorn fans consider Shipley the best wide receiver in school history and was one of the Big 12’s biggest deep threats from 2006 to 2009.
Shipley was a Biletnikoff finalist and Maxwell semi-finalist as a senior in 2009 and helped the Longhorns go 13-1 and make it to the BCS National Championship Game. Despite losing the game, Shipley had one final standout performance catching 10 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns against a highly-touted Alabama defense at the Rose Bowl.
He was a two-time All-America selections, including a consensus first team selection in 2009, and finished as UT’s all-time leader with 248 receptions and was second all-time with 3,191 yards and 53 touchdowns. Texas won 45 of Shipley’s 53 career games, including three bowl victories.
Shipley became the first Longhorn to score a touchdown via reception, kickoff and punt return in the same season as a senior and posted 4,190 career all-purpose yards.
He is a member of the Texas High School Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 and played three NFL seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville.
Thomas is the most prolific pass-catching tight end in school history and was also a member of UT’s 2005 BCS National Championship team.
He set a Longhorn single-game tight end reception record in his final game, Texas’ 41-38 win over USC in the BCS National Championship Game. Thomas led all Longhorn receivers at the Rose Bowl that night with 10 receptions for 88 yards.
Thomas averaged 13.9 yards per receptions in his collegiate career and totaled 1,367 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.
He went on to play seven seasons in the NFL for the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints and won a Super Bowl in 2010.
