1. Why fear the Longhorns? The combination of Quinn Ewers and Xavier Worthy should be enough to make teams game-plan to stop them. Ewers was good, but not great? I think I’m going with that statement and that’s largely because I think that Ewers and Worthy have consistency issues to iron out, Ewers has the arm-talent and Worthy has speed for days. I also think we’re still in a wait-and-see mode with the defense, I’m not sure that it’s that great, but do think it can be very good. Are they good enough to turn the corner and be outstanding? I’m not entirely sold.
2. The Best Jimmy’s and Joe’s. This is a list of players on preseason All-Big 12 teams and it’s a long list for Texas, without a doubt the longest list in the Big 12. You’ll note the strength is essentially all over the place, mainly on offense and the defensive line. Texas will not fail for lack of people believing that they have very talented players on the roster. No excuses, right?
- QB Quinn Ewers
- WR Xavier Worthy
- WR Jordan Whittington
- TE Ja’Tavion Sanders
- RB Jonathan Brooks
- C Jake Majors
- OL Kelvin Banks Jr.
- OL Christian Jones
- DL Byron Murphy, II
- DL T’Vondre Seat
- DL Barryn Sorrell
- LB Jaylan Ford
- DB Jahdae Barron
- S Jalen Catalon
3. Transfer Report. The Longhorns didn’t add a ton of talent via transfers, but they did add Georgia receiver Adonai Mitchell, Arkansas safety Jalen Catalon, and Wake Forest cornerback Gavin Holmes. I would bet on Catalon to make a pretty big impact as the pass defense sort of needed help.
4. Tough to Replace. The easy answer is Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson on the offensive side of the ball. Robinson was all-world and replacing all-world isn’t easy especially if you add in fellow running back Roschon Johnson. DeMarvion Overshown on the defensive side of the ball, really the perfect linebacker/safety hybrid that is great for college, but may we’ll see if that type of body can make it in the NFL. Defensive lineman Keondre Coburn was drafted in the 6th round and was highly productive for Texas and another defensive lineman, Moro Ojomo, was drafted in the 7th round.
Previous 4 Things Preseason Previews: Baylor; BYU; UCF; Cincinnati; Houston; Iowa State; Kansas; Kansas State; Oklahoma; Oklahoma State; TCU; Texas; Texas Tech; West Virginia
Ed Note. This is what I worked on while on flights. I tried not to get too deep because that would be incredibly difficult to do this for 14 teams and I think most of us want a cursory idea of what opposing teams are. I also found the idea of who is transferring in as more important than the freshmen arriving. That’s definitely changed over the course of years. I also thought that knowing who is being replaced is relevant more than most things.