Former Texas Longhorn Jordan Shipley fights for his life after a devastating ranch accident involving a machine fire, sustaining severe burns and airlifted to Austin.
Jordan Shipley, the former wide receiver great with the Texas Longhorns, is in the hospital at this hour after suffering burns to his body in an accident on his ranch on Tuesday.
Shipley’s family released a statement to the athletic administration at the University of Texas regarding the accident and Shipley’s condition.
“Jordan was involved in an accident this afternoon near his hometown of Burnet,” a statement reads. “The machine he was operating on his ranch caught fire, and although he managed to get out, it was not before sustaining severe burns on his body in the process. He was able to get one of his workers on the ranch who drove him to a local hospital. He was then care-flighted to Austin, where he remains in critical but stable condition.”
Shipley, 40, is a Longhorns legend, distinguishing himself as both a receiver and a special-teams performer on kick returns from 2006-2009. As a two-time All-American, Shipley holds several single-season records as a receiver at Texas, including receiving yards (1,489) and receptions (116) in the 2009 season. Shipley is also the school’s career leader for receptions with 248 and ranks second in school history in career receiving yards with 3,191.
In the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, No. 2 Texas faced off against the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide. The Longhorns were undefeated going into that matchup and had been ranked No. 3 or higher in the AP Top 25 Poll all season. Against the Crimson Tide, Shipley posted a standout performance, catching 10 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns. But the Longhorns committed five turnovers and suffered a 37-21 defeat at the Rose Bowl, the same site of their national championship victory over USC four years earlier.
Shipley went on to a short career in the NFL after being drafted in the third round of the 2010 draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. In his rookie season, Shipley posted 52 catches for 600 yards and three touchdowns. He then played two more seasons with the Bengals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars before his retirement in 2014.
Shipley appeared in 24 NFL games. He had 78 career catches for 858 yards and four touchdowns.