Texas Football: Where ESPN ranked Sam Ehlinger among best QB’s
The expectations will be higher for Texas football to-be senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger in 2020, but he is on the right track for his final season.
College football’s list season ahead of the start of various spring camps around the country has officially arrived during the month of March. ESPN jumped into the festivities with their own opinion on who would be the best quarterbacks in the nation for the 2020 season, and a certain star rising senior from the Texas football program was on the list of their top 10.
That one quarterback from the Texas Longhorns football program that ESPN’s Anthony Treash (paid content) listed on the top 10 for the 2020 season is the 6-foot-3 and 220 pound Sam Ehlinger. This fall, Ehlinger will be in the midst of his fourth season as the Longhorns starting signal caller.
The top two quarterbacks on that list for ESPN was expected. The Clemson Tigers rising junior superstar Trevor Lawrence headed up the top 10, with the Ohio State Buckeyes fellow rising junior Justin Field in the two slot. The third slot is where it starts to get a bit controversial. Former Wake Forest Demon Deacons transfer Jamie Newman (now of the Georgia Bulldogs) ranked third and North Carolina Tar Heels rising sophomore Sam Howell was fourth.
One spot ahead of Ehlinger on the list was Tanner Morgan of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Ehlinger was the first Big 12 quarterback in the top 10, and Iowa State Cyclones rising junior Brock Purdy ranked seventh. Ehlinger and Purdy were the only two from the Big 12 on the entirety of the list, though.
Two Group of Five quarterbacks ranked behind Ehlinger and Purdy and USC Trojans star Kedon Slovis rounded out the top 10.
Anyhow, here’s what this ranking had to say on the matter of Ehlinger’s placement.
"While Texas football isn’t quite back — as some thought it would be — Ehlinger has improved in every season of his collegiate career and will very likely give the program the quarterback play they need to get back to elite status.After a subpar true freshman campaign in 2017 that resulted in a 66.4 overall grade, Ehlinger posted an 85.7 grade in 2018 and a 90.2 grade in 2019. He ranked among the 10 most valuable college football players in each of the past two seasons, while his two-year overall grade from 2018-19 ranks behind only Burrow, Lawrence, Tagovailoa and Nathan Rourke."
Ehlinger finished up his junior campaign with 3,663 passing yards and 32 touchdowns through the air, with 10 interceptions. Given his proven production over the course of the last two years through the air, and over the last three years on the ground, an argument exists for Ehlinger to be ahead of both Newman and Howell.
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Another argument in favor of Ehlinger with the fact that he’s won some much bigger games than either Newman or Howell. He’s knocked off the No. 11 ranked team and No. 5 ranked team in his last two bowl games. Ehlinger and the Longhorns beat the Utah Utes in the Alamo Bowl in 2019 and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to cap his sophomore season.