Texas Football: Where PFF graded Sam Ehlinger, Longhorns for 2020

For the 2020 season, the Texas football program boasts a top returning quarterback in the entire country with rising senior Sam Ehlinger.

Entering the 2020 season, the Texas football program could very well boast the best quarterback in the Big 12. Rising senior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger could also wind up as a Heisman finalist this fall and one of the nation’s best at his position, likely alongside Trevor Lawrence of the Clemson Tigers and Justin Fields of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Ehlinger had a solid sophomore and junior campaign after breaking through as the starting signal caller for the Texas Longhorns football program as a true freshman back in 2017. His first real breakthrough season game when he led the Longhorns to a double-digit win season, Big 12 Championship Game appearance, and a Sugar Bowl win over the Georgia Bulldogs. That all happened when Ehlinger was a sophomore back in 2018.

Last season, Ehlinger registered 3,663 passing yards, 8.5 adjusted yards per passing attempt, 32 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a 151.8 passer efficiency rating. He added 663 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground during his junior campaign.

After a solid, but inconsistent at times, junior campaign got the Longhorns just to the eight win mark, the reactions were mixed for Ehlinger. Coming into the 2020 season, the expectations will be higher and the leash will be shorter for the likes of head coach Tom Herman and Ehlinger. Texas is firmly expected to win double-digit games again in 2020, just like they did in 2018.

In the preseason polls that are being released heading into the summer months, Texas pretty much always finds themselves amid the top 20 teams. Sometimes they are included in the top 15. In the most recently updated Pro Football Focus preseason college football top 25, Texas rang in at No. 16.

That put the Longhorns two spots lower than the in-state rival Texas A&M Aggies. That is showing that, as much as both fan bases wouldn’t want to admit it, expectations and results from the last few seasons are pretty much about the same for both programs.

However, one potentially controversial take involved here was the fact that Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond was mentioned as the highest graded returning player at the position in the SEC for 2020. Ehlinger was mentioned as the fourth highest graded returning quarterback in the nation. So that could mean that Ehlinger and Mond are neck and neck among the highest graded returning quarterbacks in the nation.

The return of Mond also likely pushed the Aggies into the top 15, despite not finishing with double-digit wins in each of the last two seasons. They also haven’t legitimately contended for an SEC Championship since the end of the Johnny Manziel-era in College Station.

Texas finished with a record of 8-5 (5-4 Big 12) last season after beating the Utah Utes in the Alamo Bowl. Ehlinger had a nice finish to the 2019 campaign, but needs to elevate his game again this fall.