Texas Football: 247 ranks Sam Ehlinger among best 2021 NFL Draft QB’s
On Jan. 25, 247Sports thought out where Texas football senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger could stand on early 2021 NFL Draft boards.
Rising senior Texas football star quarterback Sam Ehlinger is going to be one of the best returning college football players at his position in the nation for the 2020 season. Head coach Tom Herman has a good offense returning to the Forty Acres in 2020, and it all starts with the star signal caller Ehlinger.
The national college football media outlet 247Sports took a deeper look into the best 2021 NFL Draft-eligible quarterbacks. Ehlinger was one of those representing the Texas Longhorns football program. He was one of two quarterbacks from the Big 12, and one of three from the state of Texas on that list of 10 from 247Sports.
The other quarterback mentioned in this piece from 247Sports from the Big 12 is Iowa State Cyclones to-be junior Brock Purdy. And the other two from the state of Texas included former Longhorn and to-be redshirt SMU Mustangs star Shane Buechele and Texas A&M Aggies rising senior Kellen Mond.
Here’s what 247Sports had to say on the subject of Ehlinger’s draft stock as it stands now in the 2020 offseason.
"Ehlinger was draft eligible this season, but chose to return for his senior campaign. The Austin native completed 65.2 percent of his passes this season for 3,663 to go along with 32 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He was also an enormous factor on the ground, per usual. Ehlinger rushed 163 times for 663 yards (4.1 average) and added seven scores in that department. For his final season in Austin, Ehlinger will have a new offensive coordinator in former Ohio State passing game coordinator Mike Yurcich. This is a make or break season for both the Longhorns and Ehlinger as he looks to make himself a sure fire first round pick. The Sept. 12 contest at LSU will go a long way in determining that."
The other significant quarterbacks on this list from 247Sports included the Clemson Tigers superstar rising junior Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State Buckeyes sophomore Justin Fields. Lawrence is very likely to be the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, and Fields’ early entrance decision will be one of the more intriguing to watch.
When it’s all said and done, Ehlinger’s accuracy that he shows during the 2020 season will play a large role in determining if he falls as a middle or late round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He’s not the prototypical quarterback prospect, and his injury history will be troubling to a number of NFL teams.
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Get the Longhorns to the Big 12 Championship Game and maybe to a spot in the College Football Playoff and Ehlinger could very well be a late riser on 2021 NFL Draft boards. For now, his focus should be on having a very good 2020 campaign.