Texas Football: 10 best quarterbacks all-time for the Longhorns

6. James Brown (1994-1997)

The second black starting quarterback in program history for the Longhorns that came after Little was James Brown in the mid-1990s. Brown had some truly memorable moments as Texas’ starting quarterback, including right from the start of his run as the primary quarterback in 1994.

He led the Longhorns to a come-from-behind win over Oklahoma in Red River in 1994. And he had a very efficient 1994 season altogether after getting tossed out to the wolves as a redshirt freshman. Brown finished up the 1994 season with more than 1,000 passing yards, 14 total touchdowns, and just two interceptions.

Brown also got two ranked wins in his first season as Texas’ starter.

The run for Brown as Texas’ starting quarterback peaked in terms of the team’s success in 1995. Texas won another SWC title in 1995 while Brown registered more than 2,500 total yards, 20 total touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.

5. Sam Ehlinger (2017-2020)

The most recent starting quarterback to make this list for the Longhorns is the multi-time All-Big 12 selection Sam Ehlinger. Spending three full seasons as Texas’ starting quarterback, Ehlinger was extremely productive the entire way.

Ehlinger was another quarterback that was really thrown into the fire as a freshman. But he handled the immense pressure and bright spotlight pretty well from the get-go.

Once Ehlinger settled in as a sophomore, Texas experienced a good amount of success. Ehlinger, in particular, was very productive for the Longhorns registering more than 11,000 career passing yards, 94 passing touchdowns, and 27 interceptions. But he was also extremely productive on the ground, coming up with more than 2,000 career rushing yards and a whopping 33 rushing scores.

Texas’ best season as a team with Ehlinger as the starting quarterback came in 2018, which was the lone double-digit win season in the last dozen years for the program.