Texas Football: Will the Longhorns drop a key offensive position?
The latest Texas Longhorns football injury has us wondering if Tom Herman will drop a key offensive position.
Andrew Beck, the senior tight end slotted to start at TE for the Longhorns, suffered foot fracture during practice this week.
After being injured earlier this year, Beck was finally healthy. Now, Beck could be out for most of the 2017 college football season.
This has created the possibility of two outcomes leading up to the first Texas Football game of the season:
- Tom Herman and OC Tim Beck drop the Tight End position
- Another TE suddenly emerges as the go-to player
The Longhorns have three new tight ends in the fold. And, Andrew Beck was expected to be the steadying hand until one of the three emerged.
Now, someone will need to step up, but all three have to overcome a hurdle:
- Incoming freshman Reese Leitao is suspended for the first two games of the season
- Cade Brewer is also a true freshman trying to reach the right body size to play TE
- Kendall Moore is a graduate transfer from Syracuse getting acclimated to Texas Football
Another possibility is junior TE Garrett Gray. The issue is that he has never caught a pass at the collegiate level after playing on special teams his first two years.
All of this leads to the question of whether Tom Herman will drop the TE position early in the season.
Should Texas Drop the TE Position?
Tom Herman had tremendous success with the TE position last season at Houston. Tyler McCloskey, a senior TE for the Cougars, was a key part of the offense, especially when Coach Herman could not find a healthy or reliable RB to take the load off QB Greg Ward.
At Texas, though, Herman does not have a go-to TE after the injury to Andrew Beck. But, Texas is absolutely loaded at the Wide Receiver position.
It’s conceivable that Texas will go with a lot of four WR looks early in the season as they try to find a consistent TE to weave into the lineup.
The Longhorns also might try to use RBs in the Tight End role, especially in goal line or short yardage type situations.
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Texas fans have been waiting years to see the TE utilized again in Austin. It was a staple of Mack Brown’s successful football teams, but the Longhorns have struggled to fill the position since the days of David Thomas and Jermichael Finley.
Herman just needs to find a short-term solution to the current problem before the start of the 2017 season. Then, he is bringing in some very good TE recruits in 2018.
To help win games in 2017, though, the clock is ticking to find a replacement for Andrew Beck. The decision might be removing a traditional TE role from the majority of offensive snaps. At least until Reese Leitao, Cade Brewer, Kendall Moore, or Garrett Gray emerges as a reliable TE option for the Texas Longhorns.