Texas Football: Ricky Williams cautiously optimistic about Ehlinger’s Heisman chances

Former Texas football Heisman winning running back Ricky Williams gave his take on the chances for Sam Ehlinger to be a finalist for the honors this fall.

More than likely the next Texas football player that has a legitimate shot at becoming a Heisman finalist in the near future is to-be senior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger. Last season, Ehlinger had a lot of Heisman hype building around him, but the team didn’t play well enough for those aspirations to come to fruition.

But a former Heisman winner out of the Texas Longhorns football program, superstar running back Ricky Williams, definitely has some advice worth taking into account. Williams is the most recent Heisman Trophy winner for the Longhorns, as he took the honors back to the Forty Acres in 1998.

The 1998 Heisman campaign for Williams was also his final year with the Longhorns. He would be selected in the first round, fifth overall, in the 1999 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. An up and down NFL career that saw a lot of promise from Williams would follow that in the next decade or so.

However, Williams enjoyed a very successful career with Texas. Not only did he win the Heisman in 1998, he finished top five in voting in 1997. That magical 1998 season saw him rake in more than 2,000 rushing yards along with 28 total touchdowns.

The advice that Williams had for Ehlinger, along with his overall outlook for his Heisman chances this fall were mixed. There was a feeling that Williams was being cautiously optimistic in his thoughts about Ehlinger’s odds at being a Heisman finalist in 2020.

Williams joined up with the crew from Austin FM radio station 104.9 The Horn late last week. He discussed the Heisman path for Ehlinger this fall, and there’s a monologue of parts of the conversation thanks to Horns247.

Here’s the key part of that conversation with the crew on The Horn.

"“The one expectation that I’m not going to give up is, and this is a team thing, but I want to see Sam in New York at the end of the year for the Heisman Trophy ceremony,” Williams said."

Here was another part of the conversation that was indicative of how Williams felt about the supporting cast that Ehlinger has this season. He does have a point that Texas is rather inexperienced at a lot of the skill positions. Junior running back Keaontay Ingram will be his most proven commodity this fall.

"“[With the] receivers, I think it’s an attitude,” he added. “Receivers need to take this attitude that we have a wonderful quarterback, we need to make sure to catch everything because when Sam can drop back and just throw the ball and have confidence that the receivers are going to catch the ball, there’s no better player, in my opinion, in the country.“Last year, I just saw so many times him getting frustrated because the receivers weren’t weren’t catching the ball and it took him out of his game.”"

Ehlinger rounded out his junior campaign with more than 3,000 passing yards and 39 total touchdowns, with 10 interceptions. He’s continuing to put up good numbers, despite Texas finishing up the 2019 season with a record of 8-5 (5-4 Big 12).

Texas will enter the 2020 with the hopes of returning to the Big 12 Championship Game and getting their first Heisman finalist of the Tom Herman-era. Ehlinger is their best hope to get a Heisman finalist this year.