Texas Longhorns

Kenny Vaccaro wanted to wait a year.

The simple reason was that the Texas safety wanted to be the best, the first safety taken in the NFL draft when his time came. That time was Thursday night as Vaccaro, after a four-year career at Texas, was indeed the first safety selected -- the 15th pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.

"I have been grinding my whole life, literally since I was 4 years old, for this opportunity, and it is finally here," he said.

And now he will go to the New Orleans Saints and go down as Texas’ 10th top-20 pick in the last 10 years.

"Kenny Vaccaro is one of the best football players we have ever had,” said Texas coach Mack Brown. “He is tough, he’s smart, he’s a playmaker and he practiced like he was in a game every day. He is very passionate about football. He brings leadership and he brings toughness."

Vaccaro was one of the few who brought those qualities to a Texas defense that suffered through the 2012 season. In that defense he was pushed into several different positions as well as a leadership role.

"When we’ve approached him with some tough defends, or some tough ideas, asking him if he thinks he could do this, he was always willing to take on the difficult role to maybe make things a little bit easier for a younger player that we’re trying to take care of within the scheme of things," said defensive backs coach Duane Akina. "Ultimate team player. Very flexible. He can play man-coverage, in the deep-half or deep-third. He can blitz."

All of those qualities and a few more piqued the Saints' interest.

"I think he’s got that toughness and that suddenness that you’d like at that position," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "I think he brings a physical dimension to the game he plays with. He’s been well-coached. They do a great job there defensively. There were a lot of things we liked about him. That versatility is unique, and something that I think is beneficial."

The NFL draft continues today with the second and third rounds. Texas defensive end Alex Okafor has been projected to be taken somewhere within those two rounds. Texas wide receiver Marquise Goodwin has been projected to be selected somewhere in the draft, but in a later round.

But for Vaccaro, the wait is over.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Dana Holgorsen’s run game was going nowhere.

And since Texas was only on West Virginia’s schedule once, the Mountaineers coach was searching for answers.

"We had to do something," he said after the decision to move wide receiver Tavon Austin to running back.

That decision paid off, as Austin went for 344 rushing yards against Oklahoma.

"It probably should have been done four years ago," Holgorsen said in the postgame. "Moving him around and giving him some different matchups was probably a pretty good idea."

It’s an idea -- an epiphany, if you will -- that Texas needs now, so that three years from now, when rising sophomore Daje Johnson is on the doorstep of exhausting his eligibility, as Austin was, the Longhorns coaches are not looking back, lamenting and mumbling, "You know, if we would’ve ... "

Now, while Johnson is not quite as mercurial or shifty as Austin, he does have similar abilities. And as he grows into the game, so too will his repertoire. But in the run game, those talents need to be fertilized.

As a freshman, Johnson only touched the ball on running plays an average of 2.2 times per game. (He was suspended the first game of the season.) He averaged 7.5 yards per run.

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HornsNation reporter Sean Adams and LHN analyst Ahmad Brooks both agree that the stocks for Alex Okafor and Marquise Goodwin have increased significantly following impressive performances in the Alamo Bowl.