Texas Football: PFF has Sam Ehlinger as top returning Big 12 player

The Texas football program has a good one coming back at quarterback with to-be senior star Sam Ehlinger leading the team in 2020.

Pro Football Focus has a mixed outlook it seems for the returning rising senior star quarterback of the Texas football program Sam Ehlinger ahead of the 2020 season. Texas pretty clearly returns to the most proven quarterback amid a loaded crop of projectiles starters at the position this year.

The Texas Longhorns football program will be hoping that Ehlinger can take them to new heights this fall. This could be the year that the Longhorns finally get over the hump under the direction of fourth-year head coach Tom Herman and win a Big 12 Championship and get a berth in the College Football Playoff.

However, the offense has to come together under recently hired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich and the star signal caller Ehlinger first. But there’s ample reason to believe that Ehlinger can unite this offense that will be sporting a new scheme in 2020. PFF released on Feb. 20 that Ehlinger is the best returning player in the Big 12 in 2020.

Anthony Treash of PFF was the writer to publish the list of the top 10 returning players in the Big 12 in 2020, with Ehlinger at the top. Here’s what he had to say about the placement of Ehlinger in particular on the list.

"In each of the past two seasons, Texas’ Sam Ehlinger has finished as the sixth most valuable player in college football. Among quarterbacks to play the past two seasons, Ehlinger’s two-year overall grade ranks behind only Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa and Nathan Rourke. Ehlinger is known for being used in Texas’ designed rushing attack and for bailing on the pocket and scrambling when need be. His arm, though, is the reason why he lands at number one on this list. Ehlinger was forced to throw into a tight window at one of the 25 highest rates last season, and he didn’t let that hinder himself or the team. His tight-window passing grade was third in the country and his rate of accurate passes thrown was the eighth best. If Ehlinger can just cut back on his tendency to bail on clean pockets, improve his overall pocket presence and trust his arm, good things can happen for him and Texas."

There was another Big 12 standout quarterback that ranked on the list right behind Ehlinger. To-be Iowa State Cyclones junior quarterback Brock Purdy ranked second in the Big 12’s returning players for the 2020 college football season.

The next-highest ranked quarterback on the list was the Baylor Bears rising senior Charlie Brewer. But Ehlinger, Brewer, and Purdy were the only three quarterbacks mentioned in the top 10.

Moreover, the Longhorns also only had one representative on the list. Even the likes of to-be junior defensive backs Caden Sterns and B.J. Foster along with junior running back Keaontay Ingram didn’t make the list.

The TCU Horned Frogs had the most players in the top five, with two defensive players. The Oklahoma State Cowboys had the most players overall in the top 10, with four highlighted by senior wideout Tylan Wallace ranked at No. 6.

All in all, it is hard to take parts of this list seriously. Oklahoma State to-be redshirt junior running back Chuba Hubbard led the nation in rushing last year and ranked ninth on the list. He racked up more than 2,000 rushing yards last season.

However, it is nice to see Ehlinger ranked at the top of a list from a source like PFF. That shows that Texas has a reliable and efficient star to lean on behind center entering the 2020 season.