Texas Football: 4 Longhorns who will blow up in 2023

In a little more than two weeks, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian will kick off the 2023 season at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium against the Rice Owls. Sep. 2 is the day that Texas fans are waiting for to see this team with conference title aspirations.

Texas received high marks in the major preseason polls and the Big 12 media voting. The Longhorns were voted atop the media’s Big 12 preseason poll. And the Longhorns ranked No. 11 in the preseason AP Poll, its highest mark in that poll since the 2019 season.

Heading into the final year in the Big 12 for the Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners, the time is now for Sark and this staff to push for a conference title and potentially a spot in the College Football Playoff. The realistic goal for this season is winning a Big 12 Championship before leaving the conference for the SEC in 2024.

Texas has the talent and depth to finally make a run at a Big 12 crown this fall. But this squad will need some players to step up on both sides of the ball to take this team to new heights in 2023.

Texas football players that will blow up in 2023

Here’s a look at four Longhorns players bound to blow up during the 2023 season.

Jonathon Brooks, RB

The projected starter at running back for the Longhorns heading into the season is redshirt sophomore, Jonathon Brooks. The 6-foot and 185-pound third-year rusher Brooks has big shoes to fill, with Texas losing standout running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson to the NFL Draft this offseason.

But Texas has a deep backfield with a lot of young talent just waiting to prove themselves this fall. Brooks is one of those backs looking to seize the opportunity to finally be the guy in the running back room in his third year on campus.

Brooks has shown flashes in the last couple of seasons what he can do as an explosive rusher and receiver out of the backfield. He registered nearly 350 rushing yards and a half-dozen rushing scores in the last two seasons. Brooks contributed in the passing game in the Alamo Bowl last year too, reeling in more than 30 receiving yards and one touchdown catch.

The question for Brooks this fall will be whether he can show the same explosiveness and effectiveness getting starter-level carries out of the backfield. He should have a lot of the pieces in place around him to succeed this season. The passing game will be better with Quinn Ewers in his second year as the starting quarterback and a loaded receiving corps that brings back all starters.

The offensive line returns all five starters from last season. And it could be even better with the former No. 1 rated IOL recruit in the nation in the 2022 class, sophomore guard DJ Campbell, looking to win the starting right guard job coming out of fall camp.

If Brooks is the same explosive and efficient back he was in spurts the last couple of seasons, he’ll be a 1,000-yard rusher as RB1 for Sark and the Longhorns this fall. Sark is well known for producing 1,000-yard rushers. He’s done so as a college coach/coordinator roughly a dozen times.

Brooks is next in line to be a 1,000-yard rusher for Sark during the 2023 season.