Grading the Texas offense position by position through five games

Evaluating how every group has performed so far this season given preseason expectations, injuries, and talent.

Through five weeks, the Texas Longhorns (5-0, 1-0) have looked like a dominant team with enough talent and maturity to make a deep postseason run. Behind a high-octane offense that is averaging 45 point per game and a defense that only gives up an average of seven points per contest, the Longhorns have reached as high as No. 1 in the polls and project to return to the top ranking on Sunday.

With the first of two bye weeks on the schedule, Texas will look to get healthy and shore up some issues that have arisen through the first five games, a period to reflect and correct. In this article, we’ll move position group by position group and rank their performance.

Quarterback

Grade: A

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The expectations for this group could not have been higher. For starter Quinn Ewers, people wanted improved decision making, deep-ball accuracy, and durability. Many expected him to end the season in New York at the annual Heisman Ceremony.

During his time on the field this season, Ewers delivered. The undisputed leader for the Longhorns completed 73.4 percent of his passes for 691 yards with a touchdown/interception ratio of 4:1. He’s taken just one sack on the year.

Ewers looked smart, decisive, and talented and his ability to make off-platform throws was on full display against top-tier talent in Ann Arbor during the 31-12 win over Michigan.

Unfortunately, Ewers suffered a non-contact oblique injury against UTSA that forced redshirt freshman Arch Manning more directly into the spotlight with his first two career starts. Once again, the expectations were sky high. While Manning has not been perfect, he has done more than enough to allow Texas to win comfortably — Manning has demonstrated his athleticism, rocket arm, and swagger over and over again.

Manning has completed 70.5 percent of his passes for 901 yards. He has thrown nine touchdowns and two interceptions while taking four sacks.

While neither quarterback has been perfect, they have each performed at a level that is well within the expectations of talent and experience. Each quarterback has put Texas in a position to win games by large margins. The efficiency in managing the offense has shown a strong command of the playbook by each quarterback — the strength of the offense undoubtedly runs through the ability, confidence, and leadership of the quarterback room.

Running back

Grade: B

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Taking stock of this position group is a struggle, given the injuries and inconsistency after projected starter CJ Baxter, a sophomore, and freshman Christian Clark both suffered season-ending injuries during preseason camp. Heading into the year with just a handful of scholarship running backs spelled for a letdown performance from the group headed by Tashard Choice. While the running back room hasn’t underperformed by any means, the inconsistency and lack of explosive plays hasn’t performed up to standard, earning a B grade.

Through five games, the Longhorn coaching staff has had to deal with a very little depth, injuries, and a lack of a do-it-all back. Junior Jaydon Blue is the elder of the group and most talented of the three-headed trio that includes Quintrevion Wisner and Jerrick Gibson, but hasn’t been able to get the job done week to week, suffering an ankle injury in the win over the Wolverines and then fumbling twice in the SEC opener.

Blue is the best pass catcher of the group, as his ability out of the backfield has created positive yardage check downs and gives the screen game an added threat. He has 11 catches on the year, which is tied for fourth most on the team, even though he missed one game for injury and was benched. He also has two receiving touchdowns. Wisner and Gibson have a combined eight receptions with no touchdowns,

Blue also possesses elite speed and has the ability to turn every touch into a trip to the end zone. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen that home-run skillset so far with Blue’s longest rush just 21 yards on the year.

Beyond the big-play threat, Blue’s talent and role as the lead back have been complicated by injury. He was forced to miss a game after the victory against Michigan. He would score four touchdowns in his return against ULM, but that was followed by a two fumble performance against Miss State. This three-game stretch of injury, four touchdowns, and two fumbles is precisely why this position group has earned a B grade – inconsistency.

The inconsistency doesn’t solely fall on the shoulders of Blue. The injury to Baxter pushed Wisner and Gibson into bigger roles even as Wisner dealt with an undisclosed injury sustained against UTSA that caused him to miss the ULM win. Gibson in particular has struggled in specific scenarios such as the pass catching and protection.

Gibson has three catches on the year and has been routinely subbed off during pass-protection scenarios — it seems that head coach Steve Sarkisian and Choice don’t trust the freshman to protect the quarterback. Their skepticism seems to be based in some truth as Gibson has graded at a 9.6 in PFF pass blocking. While this is abysmal, it does take time for any player to adjust to the speed of the game. In an ideal scenario, Gibson would be working on this skillset during practice, not in scenarios that matter. For better or worse, that is a luxury that the Longhorns don’t have.

All in all, this group has performed in a manner that demonstrates the struggles that come with so many injuries and such little meaningful experience. More consistent play is required for the remaining games on the schedule.

Wide receiver

Grade: A+

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Normally, losing all three starting wide receivers leads to a drop in production. For Texas, the production has not only been replaced but spread around. The wide receiver room this year has some of the most athletic and versatile route runners in the country and the talent isn’t just isolated to the starters, it’s distributed throughout the entire room.

Six different wide receivers have caught eight passes or more and at least one touchdown. Five receivers have multiple touchdowns. Five receivers have a reception of 40 yards or more. The stats go on and on.

This position group is elite. The home-run ability of sophomore Johntay Cook and frehsman Ryan Wingo stretches a defense. The sure handedness and after-catch explosiveness of junior Matthew Golden and junior Isaiah Bond are enough to help any offensive coordinator sleep at night. Sophomore DeAndre Moore Jr. and senior Silas Bolden fly under the radar at times, but can open up any route.

This position group is unique in that it is actually somewhat difficult to tell the difference between the 1s and the 2s — Texas essentially has six co-starters.

“Sometimes you can’t tell the difference between our [No.] 1s and our [No.] 2s,” Sarkisian said. “That’s great for us. That’s great for us right now early in the season. We can play a lot of players, especially when we’re at home, but also for the longevity of the season.”

“We kicked off on Aug. 31 and we’re hoping to play on Jan. 20. So, we’re going to need all the depth that we have.”

Beyond just the depth, this group provides versatility. Bond has shown he can run the ball or use the screen game. Golden knows how to find spots against zone coverage extremely well. Wingo can outrun anyone, whether that’s on a deep route or end around. This group gives Sarkisian the ability to draw up creative plays no matter the situation.

It will also need to continue being aggressive in blocking scenarios. While the group hasn’t been poor in this area, there have been multiple misses blocks on the perimeter. Most recently, a poorly blocked screen resulted in Wingo suffering a minor ankle injury.

Nonetheless, this group is performing and performing well.

Tight end

Grade: A-

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The tight end position group features senior Gunnar Helm, senior Juan Davis, and junior Amari Niblack. While Niblack hasn’t seen the field much in meaningful scenarios, thanks in part to three total penalties committed offensively and on special teams, the combination of Helm and Davis have been a pleasant surprise in production this year.

After losing Sanders, Texas recruited Niblack through the portal from Alabama and it was somewhat unclear how the room would shape up in terms of position and snap count with Ja’Tavion Sanders moving on to the NFL, but through five games, Helm has emerged as a extremely viable replacement for Sanders and Davis has proven himself to be more reliable over Niblack in the blocking game.

For Helm, the year has gotten off to a fast start — he is currently third on the team in receptions (16), fourth in yards (220), and scored a touchdown. He shined against Michigan with seven catches for 98 yards and a touchdown in the best performance of his college career.

The production of Helm isn’t just as a pass catcher, as he has also been a superb pass protector.

Meanwhile for Davis, his role has predominately been as a blocker, catching two passes for 18 yards, but his production stems as a blocker.

“He had a really good summer. He had a really good training camp. He’s playing good football for us right now. He had a really good summer. He had a really good training camp. He’s playing good football for us right now,” Sarkisian said before the season.

For the tight end group as a whole, the ability to serve as an added blocker is the most critical role that needs to be performed because Sarkisian likes to employ heavy personnel packages with two tight ends. While this group has blocked well, the surprising athleticism and route running from Helm has pushed this group into a place where defensive coordinators must prepare for the possibility of tight ends catching meaningful passes from Ewers and Manning.

Offensive line

Grade: A-

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The Texas offensive line has been good this year. Arguably even great. However, the expectation was excellent for this group. Returning four starters, junior Cam Williams was the sole new starter in the trenches.

So far, the group up front has looked strong. The Longhorns are averaging 5.0 yards per carry and have given up only five sacks on the year. In addition, some of the individual performances of the offensive line have been downright elite.

Left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr has been the seventh-highest PFF graded lineman so far in the season. He was awarded SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week this past week as well. Williams earned the same honor in the season opener against Colorado State.

The individual performance of the line has been undoubtedly strong. However, it has also come with issues.

Texas has struggled to establish a consistent ground game at times. At halftime against Mississippi State, Texas had 10 rushing yards. The best offensive line in the country, or one that aspires to be, doesn’t allow this to happen. In addition, the offensive line has been penalized regularly during the season.

A reliable stream of false starts and holdings are a recipe to kill drives. Against Michigan, Texas had false starts and holdings with Moore having a touchdown wiped off the board in that game thanks to a holding on Williams. Against Mississippi State, the offense was penalized for both penalties, including a Wisner touchdown run called back for holding.

While the offensive line is a strength of the team, it does need to clean up some aspects of its performance — while this group has shown flashes of greatness, they need to cut out the penalties to achieve greatness.