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Tag: Texas Football

Hermans Sophmore Year

Written by Hunter Cooke on . Posted in Football, TEXAS SPORTS, UT FOOTBALL.

2017’s 7-6 season was good for Tom Herman’s first season with the Texas Longhorns, but that’s certainly not the expectation moving forward.
Fortunately for Herman and Longhorn fans all over, should their quarterback play solidify, this could be an excellent season for a variety of factors.
On the defensive side of the ball, Texas lost a metric ton of stellar players to the NFL. They also return two of the most important pieces in a Big 12 defense: both defensive ends. Breckyn Hager and Charles Omenihu can get after the quarterback, which in the pass-happy Big 12 can pay massive dividends. That fearsome defensive front will have to carry a lot of water early in the season, as the defensive backfield is likely to be full of younger players who will need to get used to the speed of college football. Todd Orlando will earn every cent of his 1.7 million dollar salary getting his youthful secondary up to snuff.
Of course, while the defense might take a slight step back due to attrition, the offense has a chance to make a leap forward. Shane Buechele and Sam Ehlinger both return, as do a slew of talented skill position players. The offensive line is harder to predict, but with an influx of talent in graduate transfer Calvin Anderson and a new offensive line coach in Herb Hand, there’s a chance at improvement. All in all, just a little bit of progress might be all the Longhorns need to take a solid season.
The real reason for optimism comes from the rest of the conference: it’s likely to be a down year in the rest of the Big 12. Gone are names like Baker Mayfield, Mason Rudolph, and James Washington, who have terrorized the Longhorns in the past. Essentially, most teams in the Big 12 are rebuilding, and that leaves a bigger space for Texas to strike. If Herman and his boys can strike while the iron is hot, the Longhorns could be looking at a successful season by default due to the relative weakness of their conference slate.

Why we like Sam OVER Shane!

Written by Russell Dowden on . Posted in TEXAS SPORTS, UT FOOTBALL.

When it comes down to the big question, who will start at quarterback for Texas, the answer is as clear as day. It’s Sam Ehlinger, full stop.

Look, Shane Buechele isn’t a bad guy, or even a bad quarterback. Tom Herman is in a great position here, he has to pick between two solid quarterbacks.

Sam is more than a statline, but his statline is great. He threw for 380 yards on a Bill Snyder coached Kansas State team. That doesn’t happen every day. And in the same game, he rushed for 107 yards, and had a highlight moment truck of a K-State DB.

He nearly led the Longhorns to victory in overtime against USC, and he finally accomplished the overtime win. Statistically, by wins and losses, Ehlinger leads Buechele on the season, 2-1 vs. 1-2.

It’s not merely a statline though…Ehlinger has “it”.

It’s the it you talk about with a capital I, the it that stands for pure moxie, swagger, whatever you want to call it. He’s simply a leader on the field, in a way that comes naturally. With Shane Buechele at the helm, it feels possible that Texas comes back. With Sam Ehlinger leading the charge, it feels inevitable that Texas returns to glory.

And that’s all it will take, is time. The Longhorns are insanely young, the two young men we’re talking about aren’t juniors yet.

It’s not a hard call for Herman. You play the hot hand, the guy that gives you the best chance to win, the chance to finally make it back to the limelight. That man is Sam Ehlinger, and he’ll prove it time and time again.

The Longhorns have Oklahoma next, and if Sam Ehlinger doesn’t trot out to take the first snap, it’ll be a colossal mistake on Herman’s part. He’s got the stats and he’s got the guts. The only thing missing is the go-ahead from the boss.