SAD NEWS: Texas Longhorns coach has found dead some hours ago
Players from Texas Longhorns to be aware of before the College Football Playoffs
The notion that “Texas is back” has been bandied around for years, despite the Longhorns’ dismal prospects of contending for a national title.
Texas advanced to the Big 12 Championship Game in 2018 under Tom Herman, but fell short of expectations in Austin. Following the 2021 season, Herman was sacked, offering Steve Sarkisian a third opportunity as head coach.
With the Longhorns finishing 12-1 in 2023 and hosting the Big 12 Championship in Austin for the first time since 2009, Sarkisian has brought the program back to national prominence in just his third season at Texas.
Kickoff in the Sugar Bowl between Texas and Washington is set for January 1 at 8:45 p.m. ET.
With the College Football Playoff semifinals only a few days away, let’s look at a few guys to keep an eye on from Texas.
The sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers
Few would have predicted a year ago that Quinn Ewers would be the player guiding Texas back into the national spotlight in college football.
Now, not only is he the captain of an offense that is vying for a national title, but if he returns to Austin for his junior season—which is expected to happen—he will be among the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy in 2024.
Ewers just finished an unprecedented effort against to win the Big 12 championship.
Ewers had an incredible year, passing for 1,246 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions in the last four games after missing two games with an injury.
Ewers, a sophomore quarterback, significantly increased his completion rate in 2023, rising from completing just 58.1% of his throws in 2022 to 70.7%. In 2023, he threw for 3,161 yards, 21 touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Texas will go up against a Washington unit that ranks seventh in the Pac-12 with 263.2 passing yards allowed per week.
The senior defensive lineman T’Vondre Sweat
The Longhorns’ defense is under the greatest strain, even though Texas will undoubtedly need to score in order to stay up with the prolific Washington attack.
T’Vondre Sweat helped the Texas defense wrap out the campaign.
Sweat was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year after finishing the season with 42 tackles, eight tackles for loss, seven quarterback hurries and two sacks.
And it’s not just stopping the run for Sweat after the 6-foot-4, 362-pound lineman caught a touchdown in the Big 12 Championship Game.
“Well, I mean, I was going to Coach [Kyle] Flood [offensive coordinator] all the time and Coach Sark, waiting on this opportunity to get this touchdown,” Sweat said of his touchdown, according to On3. “They told me during the game, I was going to get the touchdown, and it happened.”
In the three games after star running back Jonathan Brooks suffered a season-ending ACL injury, Texas had three separate running backs lead the team in rushing.
Against Iowa State, it was freshman CJ Baxter, who rushed for 117 yards on 20 carries. In Week 13 against Texas Tech, sophomore running back Jaydon Blue led the team with 121 yards on 10 carries. And against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game, it was senior Keilan Robinson who led the way with 75 yards with two touchdowns on just four carries.
Sweat was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year after finishing the season with 42 tackles, eight tackles for loss, seven quarterback hurries and two sacks.
And it’s not just stopping the run for Sweat after the 6-foot-4, 362-pound lineman caught a touchdown in the Big 12 Championship Game.
“Well, I mean, I was going to Coach [Kyle] Flood [offensive coordinator] all the time and Coach Sark, waiting on this opportunity to get this touchdown,” Sweat said of his touchdown, according to On3. “They told me during the game, I was going to get the touchdown, and it happened.”
In the three games after star running back Jonathan Brooks suffered a season-ending ACL injury, Texas had three separate running backs lead the team in rushing.
Throughout the season, the Washington defense gave up 133.8 yards per game on the ground, which was the fifth-highest amount in the Pac-12.
Throughout the season, the Texas offense averaged 189.1 yards per game on the ground
The wide receiver from Texas, Adonai Mitchell, played his first two years of collegiate ball with the Georgia Bulldogs, and now he has an opportunity to win his third consecutive national title.
After returning home to Texas, Mitchell was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. He has 51 receptions for 813 yards and a team-high 10 touchdown catches.
Another wide receiver to watch out for when Texas plays the Huskies in the Sugar Bowl is Xavier Worthy.
In his junior year, Worthy set records for Texas in terms of catches (73) and receiving yards (969).
With 286.8 yards per game in 2023, the Longhorns’ passing offense ranked third in the Big 12 conference.
