Aweak link in Ehlinger’s dynamic potential
Herman insists young quarterback protect ball better
AUSTIN — There was no escape, though the freshman undoubtedly considered lowering his head and plowing through as many USC defenders as his sturdy 6-2, 230-pound body would allow. But the walls were closing in on both ends, and Sam Ehlinger already had been scanning and scampering for six seconds, an eon in football time.
But in the seventh second, he sensed a sliver of hope. Rolling to his right, Ehlinger rifled the ball to Armanti Foreman, who snatched the pass and tapped both toes down in the cardinal colored end zone before tumbling out of bounds.
The collective groan by the crowd crammed inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum said it all — this was unbelievable.
A freshman quarter back making his second career start had just led Texas on a 14-play, 91yard scoring drive to seize a 17-14 lead with 45 seconds left. On the road. Against a national championship contender led by a Heisman hopeful quarterback and future third overall pick in Sam Darnold.
A year of highs and lows
Everyone knows now how it ended. Ehlinger lost a fumble in double overtime and the Trojans drilled a 43-yard field goal to win the game and capsize what would have been one of the more improbable moments of UT’s 2017 season.
And that essentially was the script of Ehlinger’s first college campaign. Flurries of precocious brilliance countered by momentum-shifting mis fortune.
Asimilar scene played out again against Oklahoma. And Oklahoma State. And Texas Tech.
“The conversation was ‘Protect the ball better, son,’ you know?” coach Tom Herman said after Ehlinger led his unit to victory in this year’s Orange-White spring game. “At quarterback, when you hold the ball in this game, you have the hopes and dreams, goals, aspirations, everything of your teammates, of your loved ones in your hands. When you think about it that way, you tend to be a lot more cautious with it.
“Now that being said, from day one of spring ball, I told the
Q Bsto experiment, ripit in there, man. Try to fit it in tight windows, because Iwant you to have that confidence when you do.”
Lofty comparisons
Ehlinger now stands 6-3, and he added about 15 pounds to his frame over the offseason, proof of months of grueling work with strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight. But all the additional bulk and new personal gym records won’t amount to much if Ehlinger can’t shake those backbreaking late-game mistakes.
And that’s exactly the type of development Herman and his staff will be monitoring when
practice begins Aug. 3.
“We’ll have plenty of scrimmage opportunities to know whether he’s going to protect the football or not,” Herman said Tuesday during Big 12 media days in Frisco. “When they wear black jerseys in our program, it’s not like they don’t get bumped around and guys aren’t breaking up the football. And then obviously in throwing situations, that’s very simulatable in a practice or scrimmage setting.”
The talent within Ehlinger is apparent, and he exudes the sort of swaggering confidence Herman covets.
Oh, and he’s tough. Ehlinger led Texas in rushing last season and flattened more than a few defenders after rocketing out of a pocket that too often seemed to collapse. Herman even likened the young quarterback’s hard-nosed dual-threat style to Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, and J.T. Barrett.
Taking the next step
The starting job is Ehlinger’s to win, even with steady junior Shane Buechele and two advanced freshmen quarterbacks all vying for the gig.
“I feel like the two older guys in Buechele and Ehlinger really improved like we asked them to,” Herman said “With Sam, it was tightening his release up a little bit. He had gotten into bad habits, broke his wrist his senior year in high school and never felt healed, totally. He worked his tail off and he made some throws this spring that I hadn’t seen him make in the year that we have been around him.”
Texas gets another shot at USC on Sept. 15, this time at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Ehlinger wants to atone for what transpired last year in Los Angeles, and if all goes according to plan he’ll be on the field to try to do exactly that.
“At the end of the day,” Her man said, “andwe dealt with this at Ohio State withC ardell ( Jones) and J.T. when Braxton (Miller) went down, is do you protect the football and does the offense put the ball across the goal line when you’re in? That’s it at quarterback.
“Completion percentage is great. Long-ball this, leadership that, all that. Are you protecting the football, are you managing the game, and does the ball cross the end zone more times than not when you’re at quarterback?”