Texas Football: 5 question marks amidst spring camp

3. New starting corners

This is a question that won’t go away anytime soon. Texas football needs to figure out its cornerback situation heading into the 2019 if the defensive backfield is to have any hope of keeping pace in the high-flying Big 12. Against teams with premier receiving corps and top passing games in the Big 12 last year, Texas got burned quite a few times.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders, West Virginia Mountaineers, and Oklahoma State Cowboys all did whatever they wanted to with the Texas secondary. But, there was some hope that emerged with surprisingly stout showings at times against offenses like the Oklahoma Sooners and Iowa State Cyclones.

To avoid anymore big letdowns this coming season, the Horns need to sure up the secondary with the best options at hand. The spots that are locked down now include the safety and nickelback positions. Returning senior Brandon Jones and rising sophomore Caden Sterns will man the safety spots while B.J. Foster could move to nickel.

The Horns at least have some degree of steadiness preset in the secondary at safety and nickel. But, Texas is putting a ton of faith into either sophomore Anthony Cook or redshirt sophomore Kobe Boyce to be the “lock down” corner that replaces Kris Boyd. Something needs to give from what we’ve seen starting last fall all the way up to this point of spring drills for a corner to prove he can handle this spotlight.

2. Quarterback emergency plan

Taking a deep dive into the backup quarterback battle for Herman can partly help answer this question behind junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger. Texas football does have quite a bit of uncertainty behind Ehlinger on the quarterback depth chart now. This is where spring camp comes into play.

The quarterback depth chart, while inexperienced, is definitely not devoid of talent or quarterbacks with the natural skill set and athleticism to effectively run Herman’s offensive scheme. Herman and offensive coordinator Tim Beck will get a lot of valuable reps with early enrollee Roschon Johnson and redshirt freshman 2018 signee Casey Thompson.

Johnson already comes onto campus at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, which is an incredibly strong frame for an early enrollee. Thompson also has some intriguing traits including the elusiveness and flashes of ability to throw on the run he showed in last year’s spring football game. He’ll be a key figure to watch in the Orange-White Game this year.

With how we should expect Herman to progress the offense in the third-year under Ehlinger, the injury risk could also go up for him. Expect Herman to loosen the reigns on what Ehlinger can do, which will likely increase the amount of times he escapes the pocket and either throws on the run or uses his legs as a running threat.