Texas Football: Devin Duvernay Drafted by Baltimore

The Longhorns leading receiver in 2019 will team up with NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and the Ravens

Texas receiver Devin Duvernay is headed to Baltimore. 

The former Longhorn was selected by the Ravens in the third round with the 92nd overall pick on Friday. 

“In Devin, they’re getting a fierce competitor,” Texas head coach Tom Herman said. “This a guy who I describe as someone that plays angry. He would rather run through you than around you. He’s got elite speed and is a former 100-meter dash state champion in high school, a guy that led the country in the regular season in catches. He has extremely strong hands. I think he had only one drop in his four-year career. Which is amazing considering the number of catches that he had. He’s a team captain, a tremendous leader with great work ethic, and he’s extremely versatile. This is a guy, in talking with a lot of the head coaches that I talked to, although he played in the slot his senior year, he played outside the previous three years. He’s also built like a running back, and we played him in the backfield a little bit, too. He’s a guy that can do it all and certainly did for us this past season.”

Duvernay was a team captain in 2019 and finished the year with 106 catches for 1,386 yards and nine touchdowns making him the third Longhorn to record triple-digit catches in a single season. He played both inside and outside receiver during his time on the Forty Acres. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

ESPN analyst Louis Riddick

“He’s a 100 meter track champion. He’s a guy who can absolutely fly with a sub 10.5 in the 100 meters. He’s somebody who has that run-after-the-catch skill where he can show off his sub 10.5 100 meters. He worked primarily in the slot. Against Utah, he absolutely tore them up from the slot. He can line up outside and run the double moves, and then he has tremendous ball tracking skills down the field to make the contested catches. It doesn’t matter how much you push on him, he’s someone who can always come up with the big play. He was guy who was a little tight, but I tell you what, he will work on it, and that speed is game breaking.”

ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, Jr.

“You saw the improvement this year in terms of his hands and his concentration. He became much more consistent catching the football out of that slot. You think about (current Ravens) Miles Boykin needs to step it up, you’ve got Hollywood (Marquise) Brown, now you add that 4.39 speedster, and can catches that short pass. That’s what I love about Duvernay – he gives you everything he has, he’s a great kid, picks up a lot of yards after contact, excellent hands. This year he showed after having a guy who you thought might be inconsistent during his career, his production was off the charts. In the Oklahoma State game, he had 12 catches. He had eight catches against TCU against Gladney and those defensive backs. I think Devin Duvernay is a great pick for (Ravens Executive VP & General Manager) Eric DeCosta.”