Texas Football: 3 players who could be the top wide receiver in 2020

2. Brennan Eagles, Junior

At the moment, the favorite in all likelihood to be the first look for rising senior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the passing game is going to be rising junior wide receiver Brennan Eagles. Outside of Johnson and Duvernay last season, Eagles was the most productive wide receiver.

Eagles hauled in 32 catches for 522 yards and six touchdowns last season. He was hard to bring down for a number of opposing defensive backs, and thus averaged nearly 17 yards per catch. Yards after the catch looks to continue to be a large part of Eagles’ game, and that adds a huge explosiveness factor to the Longhorns passing attack.

Among the underclassmen, Eagles was the true breakthrough last season, not Smith. He improved his total number of receiving yards by around 500 and his passing touchdowns six fold. Much of his production did come in Big 12 play too. He also had a solid game against LSU last year. His only ever outing with more than 100 receiving yards came in the loss to LSU last season.

He also showed off impressive efficiencies in the wins over the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, and the loss to the Iowa State Cyclones. He tallied up more than 210 receiving yards and four scores on just eight catches in those three games. Eagles’ production might come and go, but he’s starting to rise to prominence in the middle of his college career.

This coming season, expect Eagles to be the starter at the X-wide receiver spot.