Former Texas Longhorns star Jordan Shipley is in critical but stable condition after suffering “severe” burns in an accident on his ranch in Texas on Tuesday, his family said.
According to a family statement released by the Texas athletic department, Shipley was operating a machine on his ranch near his hometown of Burnet when it caught fire. He suffered “severe burns on his body,” was driven to a local hospital by one of the workers at the ranch and then was “care-flighted” to Austin, where he remained hospitalized Tuesday night.
Shipley was a Longhorns great, starring for the program as both a receiver and a kick returner from 2006 to 2009. A two-time All-American, he holds a host of single-season receiving records at Texas, including yards (1,489 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.
As a special teams player, Shipley returned 30 punts for 375 yards (12.5-yard average) and three touchdowns, and returned 19 kickoffs for 468 yards (24.6-yard average) and one score.
Shipley went on to play in the NFL after being selected in the third round of the 2010 draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He had 52 receptions for 600 yards and three touchdowns in his rookie season and went on to play two more years, splitting time between the Bengals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars before retiring in 2014.