Texas Football: Could Sam Ehlinger Be the Early Favorite to Win QB Competition?
There’s been a lot made about Sam Ehlinger, but not so much with Shane Buechele for the Texas Football quarterback spot. Does that mean anything?
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger quietly joined the Texas Football program this winter after committing during the Charlie Strong Era. He stayed on for Tom Herman and the new staff, and is now in the heat of a quarterback competition.
Incumbent starting quarterback, Shane Buechele had a productive freshman year. He nearly crossed the 3,000-yard mark in the air and had over 20 passing touchdowns. There’s certainly room for improvement, and he probably deserves that chance to shine. However, he first has to go through a competition with Ehlinger, which doesn’t guarantee that we’ll see Buechele under center in the season opener.
So far, the talk has been all about the incoming freshman since spring practice began in early March. ESPN gave high praise of Ehlinger as their most exciting new player. He’s even working on his game during spring break, which should receive appreciation from the staff. They seemingly love him already with his “alpha-male” presence too.
On the other hand, all that has been mentioned with Buechele is the discipline he received just days into spring practice. Does that mean he hasn’t done anything good? Of course not, but that’s all we’ve heard of him in the media.
There can’t be a clear-cut favorite between these two in March, especially with Herman saying spring practice won’t decide the starting quarterback. Every day counts, though, even if it’s just one week into prep for the 2017 season.
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Buechele probably has the upper hand on Ehlinger after gaining 12 games of experience. Other than that and familiarity with the wide receivers, they’re somewhat on equal ground. Both are trying to learn a new offense from the ground up, meaning there’s going to be a learning curve.
Both are trying to learn a new offense from the ground up, meaning there’s going to be a learning curve. It’s then a battle of who picks it up faster and effectively rolls it out during practice and prep for the next five months. Thursday, Mar. 16 probably won’t be the day that these underclassmen learn it, but the timer will be on them to get it down and show what can be done with it.
What could go in Ehlinger’s favor is his legs. He bolted for 1,360 rushing yards in 2015, but was limited to just 194 in 2016 after suffering an injury. Can he revert back to his junior year and flash the two-way game that Herman used with Greg Ward Jr. at Houston? It’s more upside than what was seen from Buechele in 2016, who was also billed as a dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school. He had just 151 yards on 97 carries, which is either evident of how his legs can hold up against college defenses or the way Strong deployed him.
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The early fit may be there with Sam Ehlinger, but there’s a long way to go before jumping to conclusions. Who do you think is the early favorite to win the quarterback job for the Longhorns?