AUSTIN, Texas -- He was called the face of the Longhorns’ program all offseason long, including here. He was named Big 12 preseason Defensive Player of the Year in the summer. This was supposed to be Malik Jefferson’s year.
His sophomore season isn’t meeting the grand expectations he and everyone else had going into 2016. The 3-4 Longhorns are stuck in a rut, and so is their most-adored star.
The player around whom Charlie Strong built his Texas rebuild is having a hard time busting out of a sophomore slump, and it’s starting to affect his playing time.