No. 2: QB Sam Ehlinger
The consensus Big 12 preseason player of the year, UT QB Sam Ehlinger is coming off a breakout 2018 season. As a sophomore, he threw for 3,292 yards and completed 64.7% of his passes while also running for 425 yards.
But what made him especially valuable was that he took tremendous care of the football. Throwing only five interceptions to go along with 25 touchdown passes (a fantastic 5:1 TD: interception ratio), he was rarely a liability for his team.
With 41 total touchdowns last fall, Ehlinger was the definition of a dual-threat as his legs became as big of a part of the Texas offense as his arm. That was never more evident than in the Horns’ upset of OU at the Cotton Bowl when he ran for three scores.
Though at 235-pounds, he is able to take a hit or two, Texas was selective last year when deciding to put their most important player in harm’s way. In five games, he had eight carries or fewer, which is a bit surprising for such a tough runner who reminds some of former Florida Heisman winner Tim Tebow in that he is especially tough to bring down in the open field.
The most he carried the ball in any game was the 21 rushes he had in the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia, which was rather telling. To attack the best defense they saw last season, the Longhorns decided the best way to move the ball was to feature a heavy dose of designed runs for Ehlinger.
Given the success of that plan, it would not be shocking to see a similar blueprint from Tom Herman this fall. After all, there’s a belief that Ehlinger’s passing is his biggest weakness.
Indeed, there were four games last year in which he completed less than 60% of his passes, including a season-low 45.5% in a win over Southern Cal. What’s more, he was never asked to sling the ball as frequently as other Big 12 passers as he had only one game of 40 or more pass attempts; a loss at Oklahoma State in which Texas fell behind early and spent the entire game throwing the ball to try to catch up.
But while Ehlinger is never going to be the next coming of Peyton Manning, there’s no denying that he has emerged as one of the best QBs in the Big 12 and he is the best UT QB since Colt McCoy. Sometimes, we look too much at the spectacular and overlook the simple but that is what makes Ehlinger so effective. Because he does not make mistakes and seems to usually make the right read and get the ball to his playmakers on time, he is going to be one of the toughest players for the Red Raiders to stop this season.