Texas Football: Spring camp is the time for Hudson Card to shine

Texas football is now getting to the point of the start of spring camp, which will be pivotal this offseason after a crazy 2020 as a whole and nearly a full coaching staff overhaul. In fact this is essentially the second offseason in a row that Texas saw most or all of the coaching staff turned over. Texas lost a lot of their prior coaching staff, especially among positional coaches and coordinators, last offseason then under the direction of now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman.

Now under the direction of former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and the reigning Broyles Award winner Steve Sarkisian, the Longhorns have a boost of energy and confidence heading into spring ball. Texas has a rejuvenated coaching staff from the top-down that could move the needle starting this fall.

One area that Sark and the Longhorns have to figure out this offseason prior to the conclusion of fall camp (at least in all likelihood) is the looming quarterback battle. Texas saw senior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger declare for the 2021 NFL Draft, even though he could technically come back for one more year with this offense.

Looming Texas football quarterback battle

The two names to watch in the quarterback battle thus far will be redshirt sophomore dual-threat Casey Thompson and freshman Hudson Card. Most Texas fans are familiar with the former of those two signal callers at this point.

Thompson had a huge showing, with more than 150 passing yards on just 10 attempts, and four touchdowns through the air in the Longhorns big Alamo Bowl win over the Colorado Buffaloes back on Dec. 29. There are now a few appearances in game action, and two spring games, that Thompson has played in for this team.

Card is definitely the less experienced of the two. But he at least has some level of game action under his belt. He’s had three passing attempts and four rushing attempts (none of which led to a touchdown or turnover) in parts of two different games from last season.

But the raw talent and awareness that Card has in the pocket is something that has to appeal to Longhorns fans. And with this essentially being his first full round of spring drills and a potential spring football game, Card now has his opportunity to shine to win over the coaching staff.

And this process of Sark and his staff picking out a starting quarterback is pretty much starting from square one. Thompson and Card were both Herman recruits, so there wasn’t much objective favor from this new coaching staff out of the gates this offseason.

Card was also the higher touted of these two signal callers during his recruitment. He ranked as the nation’s No. 59 2020 high school prospect, No. 2 dual-threat quarterback, and No. 7 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). That was when Card signed with the program as an important part of the 2020 recruiting class.

Compare that to Thompson who ranked outside of the top 200 high school prospects in the nation for his cycle (2018), and you get a stark perspective of talent difference when they were both recruited.

The ultimate edge in the quarterback battle between Card and Thompson might not be decided in spring camp, but this is the time when the former of those two needs to prove himself in a big way. Card does have a shot to win this quarterback battle, but he should be facing an uphill battle in competition with Thompson at this point in time.

Texas is set to begin a delayed bout of spring ball on March 23. So that gives the Longhorns just under two weeks before spring drills begin at least. And Card is certainly a name to watch when drills begin later this month.