Texas needs its 2 highest-paid players to get their hands a little dirtier

The Texas Longhorns' offense is struggling. Whether you blame it on head coach Steve Sarkisian, quarterback Arch Manning, the offensive line, or anyone else on that roster, the offense isn't where it needs to be.

While we can beg and plead for Sarkisian to finally hand over play-calling, he has been adamant that it won't happen. So, what could we actually hope the Horns will change?

Well, for starters, we could hope that the two highest-paid athletes on Texas's roster would get their hands a little dirtier to help lift the rest of the offense around them.

Manning and wide receiver Cam Coleman have the biggest NIL packages on the roster, with the Horns' QB1 pocketing around $2.5 million and Coleman taking $3 million to transfer to Texas this offseason.

Yet, despite making more money than most college students could ever dream of, neither seems completely committed to doing whatever it takes to succeed.

Steve Sarkisian must unleash Arch Manning and Cam Coleman

Coleman was obviously brought to Texas to be a top receiver for Manning to connect with, and he has done that, earning team-leading receiving yards (318) and receiving touchdowns (5). However, being a wideout in the modern era of football is more than just running routes and catching the ball.

It also constitutes blocking, either for the rush or for slant routes, providing protection for the wide receiver or running back to gain yards behind you without the defensive back being able to get to them out wide.

Coleman falls well short of doing that successfully. When Coleman is the lead blocker, the Horns fail time and time again to gain any meaningful yardage.

That was highlighted in Texas's loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, as screen play after screen play after screen play earned just a yard or two, with Coleman as the lead blocker. Of course, in that game, we also saw some troubling signs out of Manning, pointing to the fact that he could also use to get his hands dirtier.

There were numerous occasions when Sarkisian called the zone read, giving Manning the opportunity to hand the ball off or run the ball. Time after time, he simply handed the ball off to whichever running back was in the game when he had a wide-open lane in front of him.

Yes, you could put blame on Sarkisian for "killing" Manning's run game, something that we have previously seen the quarterback excel in, but he's also giving Manning the opportunity to decide that the quarterback-keep is the better play, and he simply isn't.

Manning has to be willing to risk the hit at least a few more times than he did in the loss to OU to pick up those yards when he has an open lane in front of him. The fake zone read isn't working; it's that simple. Unless Manning is more willing to pull the ball and actually run it, that will continue to be true.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow