Former Longhorns star wide receiver Jordan Shipley — who also played a few seasons in the NFL — is in critical but stable condition after suffering “severe” burns in an accident on his Texas ranch on Tuesday, according to his family.
Shipley, 40, was operating a machine that caught fire near his hometown of Burnet, Texas, according to the statement the family sent to the school. He was driven to a local hospital and later was taken to Austin on a medical transport flight.
Shipley, who played with Texas from 2006-2009 as a receiver and a kick returner, was a two-time All-American, earning consensus first-team All-America honors in 2009.
He had 248 career catches in college for 3,191 yards and 33 touchdowns.
Shipley holds a host of single-season receiving records at Texas, including yards (1,485 in 2009) and receptions (116 in ’09). He’s also the program’s career leader for receptions with 248 and ranks second in career receiving yards with 3,191, trailing only Roy Williams.
In 2010, Shipley was drafted in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Bengals. He had 52 receptions for 600 yards in his rookie season with Cincinnati.
But the following season, the slot receiver suffered a season-ending knee injury during a Week 2 game against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 18, 2011, and he wasn’t the same player after that.
Shipley, who played in just 24 games over his three NFL seasons, had 79 receptions for 858 yards and four touchdowns with the Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
