Heading into fall/training camp, what are some of the biggest questions facing the Texas football program amid a tough offseason?
Entering the 2020 offseason, no one knew what was really going to be ahead for not just the Texas football program, but pretty much everyone everywhere around the globe. Texas rounded up the 2019 season on a high-note, by avoiding complete disaster in the win column and beating the No. 11 ranked Utah Utes in the Alamo Bowl by the final score of 38-10.
That dominant win for the Longhorns over Utah in the Alamo Bowl looked to give this team momentum heading into the 2020 offseason, along with some positive changes to the coaching staff. At least it seems that the changes to the coaching staff should have a lasting positive impact. But we’ll see how that plays out in the end.
Coaching staff changes brought mixed results for the last two coaching regimes, when the overhauls were done the first time around. Former Texas head coach Mack Brown definitely got it right the first time he made a significant overhaul to his coaching staff. But that same move wasn’t able to keep fellow former Texas head coach Charlie Strong on the Forty Acres beyond the 2016 season.
Head coach Tom Herman has to be ready to get his team going in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the college football season still seems to be hanging on the brink. Texas did get some good news on Aug. 6, as the preseason Coaches Poll ranked them at No. 14 for the 2020 season. Nonetheless, Texas needs to keep their focus on ramping up for the 2020 season while somehow managing to keep everyone same at the same time.
Here’s a look into the three burning questions for the Longhorns heading into training camp this year.
3. What to do about the running backs?
For the second straight year, there are late questions emerging about the depth at the running back position for the Longhorns. While they were in much more dire straits last offseason in fall camp, compared to how they look this year, the running back room apparently still needs some help heading into the fall.
What is causing the Longhorns to potentially need to add one more graduate transfer this year is the opting out of rising senior running back and former four-star recruit Daniel Young. Even though he wasn’t expected to maybe even be in the top three rushers by season’s end, he was going to be the most experienced and maybe one of the top trio out of the gates.
If nothing else, the valuable experience and depth that Young brought to the table would really help to bring along the top ranked running back recruit in the nation for the 2020 cycle and incoming freshman Bijan Robinson. The duo of rising junior Keaontay Ingram and sophomore Roschon Johnson should also allow Robinson more time to develop.
Nonetheless, going without a veteran voice in the locker room like Young this fall is going to hurt. Texas might turn to the NCAA Transfer Portal for help, or just try to do what they can with the current roster at hand. They’ll have to makeup for the nearly 750 career total yards from scrimmage that Young brought with some combination of that aforementioned talented running back trio, along with former walk-ons Jarrett Smith and Jaren Watkins.
2. How will players that are back from the portal going to mix in?
It looked like Texas was going to run out of luck when they were losing defensive backs left and right earlier in the offseason. They lost the likes of rising junior defensive back and former highly touted four-star recruit Anthony Cook and rising redshirt senior cornerback Donovan Duvernay to the transfer portal at different points of this offseason.
And Texas seemingly lost rising redshirt junior cornerback Kobe Boyce for good, as he retired from football entirely due to mental health and depression reasons.
Due to all of this, it made sense why Texas might’ve had to look to either the transfer portal or other areas of the current roster to make up for lost depth in the defensive backfield, just like the running back room. But that didn’t materialize in the end since the Longhorns at least got Cook back to the Forty Acres and they also landed a solid retroactive addition to the 2020 recruiting class with the former four-star Baylor Bears cornerback commit Jahdae Barron.
Cook was not the only player that said he was either entering the transfer portal, or saying that he would not participate in team activities, for the Longhorns that is back in the mix now. Rising junior linebacker Juwan Mitchell could be a key starter for the defense this fall, and he’s apparently back for summer workouts now. Last season, Mitchell registered 37 total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, and four pass deflections.
Rising junior wide receiver Brennan Eagles and junior linebacker/former converted safety DeMarvion Overshown also appear to be back at practice/workouts. This is big for the Longhorns, and these players are much needed for the team to elevate their play in the Big 12 this fall.
1. Who will emerge in the receiving corps?
This was not only a burning question for the Longhorns heading into fall/training camp, but for most of the offseason. With Texas losing the likes of the former star wide receiver duo of seniors Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay due to a lack of remaining eligibility, this position group saw a lot of turnover at the top of the depth chart.
Johnson landed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. And the Baltimore Ravens got Duvernay (as the second Longhorn off the board) with a third round pick in the 2020 draft.
However, since Texas is bringing back receivers that had experience last season like Eagles and rising sophomore Jake Smith, they do have a potentially formidable duo at the top of the depth chart. Eagles and Smith combined for nearly 800 receiving yards and a dozen touchdown catches last season.
But finding that third guy that rises to the occasion for the Longhorns is where the hurdle emerges for Herman and recently hired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. Recently promoted wide receivers coach Andre Coleman will also have a challenge to help this battle sort itself out this year. Redshirt freshman former running back Jordan Whittington is a big-time name to watch in this regard.
Whittington missed almost all of his true freshman campaign due a nagging sports hernia issue. But he appears to be recovered from that, although a lingering hamstring injury is holding him back in summer workouts. That is an ongoing storyline worth watching heading into training camp.