3 offensive Texas football players that can breakout in September

The first game of the 2022 regular season is set to kick off this weekend for the Texas football program as this team hosts the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at home on Sep. 3. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian will get to face head coach Terry Bowden and the Warhawks under the lights at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Sep. 3, with kickoff time set for 7 p.m. CT.

This will be the first time that the Longhorns faithful get to see Sark and his squad take to the field at DKR for live-game action since the regular season finale on Black Friday last year against the Kansas State Wildcats. And Texas will be looking to show the strides they’ve claimed to make during the offseason by getting off to a solid start this season.

Proving that this program is headed in the right direction in Year 2 under Sark means starting off on the right foot against a very beatable ULM team this weekend.

What Texas fans will be eager to see this fall is how the offense is able to improve with redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers taking the reigns. Ewers was named the starting quarterback out of fall camp over junior Hudson Card. And if Ewers can even come close to living up to the hype this fall, this offense should be something special to watch.

Offensive Texas football players that are sleeping giants in September

With that in mind, here’s a look at three offensive players for the Longhorns that can break out in September.

Tarique Milton, WR

What could turn out to be one of the most impactful additions of the offseason out of the NCAA Transfer Portal for the Longhorns this fall is the former Iowa State Cyclones senior and grad transfer wide receiver Tarique Milton.

Texas is getting a proven impact player at what is now a position of need at wide receiver in the wake of the season-ending injury to redshirt sophomore Isaiah Neyor. It also helps that Milton is a proven winner in the Big 12 during his time at Iowa State under head coach Matt Campbell.

It looks like Milton could be in a spot to be the third wide receiver in the pecking order for the Texas passing game this season. With Neyor out for the season due to the ACL tear he suffered back in the first fall scrimmage, those reps will now be up for grabs. And Milton should be one of the wideouts that really steps up to take some of those targets this fall.

When Texas lines up with 12 or 21 personnel this season, Milton is going to be taking most of those first-teams snaps out of the slot alongside star sophomore Xavier Worthy and redshirt junior Jordan Whittington. That will put Milton in a position to essentially be the safety valve in those situations in the passing game for Ewers, which should mean an abundance of opportunities for him to get the ball in his hands and make things happen after the catch.

Moreover, Milton was sparsely utilized in the first month of the season in the last two years at Iowa State. In the first month of the regular season in the last two years at Iowa State, Milton was targeted just 17 times for 119 receiving yards, and one touchdown.

One of the reasons for those limited reps had to do with Milton moving down on the depth chart last season in favor of freshman wideout Jaylin Noel. Another had to do with limiting injury issues a couple of years ago.

If Milton is back to his old ways, though, he should be in line to get at least five targets per game in the first month of the season. That would bring him to 20 targets in September in this projection.

It’s worth noting that the last time that Milton got more than 20 targets in the first month of a season was back in 2019, when he went for 344 receiving yards on 16 catches (21.5 yards per catch), with two receiving touchdowns.