Texas Football: 5 biggest fall camp position battles
4. Backup quarterback
The Competition: Casey Thompson (RS-Fr.), Roschon Johnson (Fr.)
Since the quarterback room for Texas football lost so much depth ahead of spring camp, the coaching staff had to be left searching for answers. Behind star to-be junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger, the Longhorns don’t have much of any experience beyond freshmen playing in spring football games.
The good news for Herman and offensive coordinator Tim Beck is the fact that there is still no shortage of promise and talent in the quarterback room. Despite all the youth and inexperience after Ehlinger on the quarterback depth chart, Beck has two solid options that could be starters once the rising junior’s career is done with the Longhorns.
Those two options for Texas to win the backup quarterback role includes redshirt freshman Casey Thompson and true freshman Roschon Johnson. Thompson did put his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal at the outset of the offseason, but wound up coming back after Shane Buechele (SMU Mustangs) and Cameron Rising (Utah Utes) decided to leave.
Johnson seems like the better fit to win the starting quarterback role with Texas in the long-term. But he’s going to have difficult competition coming his way for the next two or three years with Hudson Card and Jalen Milroe both highly touted commits in the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes. For now, Johnson will have to put his best foot forward to have a chance to get playing time ahead of Thompson.