Does full stable boast any thoroughbreds?
RB options plentiful year after young QB led Horns in rushing
AUSTIN — Daniel Young doesn’t want to see Sam Ehlinger atop the list of leading rushers at the University of Texas when the 2018 season comes to a close.
“Of course not,” Young, a sophomore running back, said Thursday following practice. “You really never want that to be. But we’ll just take it how it comes and do our job.”
Last season, Ehlinger edged out Young by eight yards (381 to 373) to finish as the Longhorns’ leading rusher. The freshman quarterback did so despite appearing in four fewer games.
Tiers of depth
There probably isn’t a 1,000yard rusher on this team, though not necessarily due to a lack of talent. The cupboard is stocked with a diverse array of backs; so far, three clear tiers have crystallized.
In the backfield, Young, Cal graduate transfer Tre Watson and freshman Keaontay Ingram have separated themselves from the herd and will receive a majority of snaps early on. Junior Kyle Porter and sophomore Toneil Carter represent the second rung. Juniors Kirk Johnson and Tristian Young are in the next tier.
“Every single guy in that room that returned is better than they were in the spring,” UT coach Tom Herman said. “Obviously, the two newcomers in Tre Watson and Keaontay Ingram add some juice to that room. You can’t play seven of them, but we’ll probably play at least three guys throughout the course of a ballgame.”
The versatile Watson should provide a steady veteran presence, and Daniel Young proved capable of handling a steady load after averaging 84 total yards per game and scoring four touchdowns over UT’s final six games.
Ingram, who posted back-toback 2,000-yard seasons at Carthage, might be the best of the bunch, but the learning curve is steep for a freshman.
“I love him already,” Ehlinger said of Ingram. “He’s a great kid and he has the football smarts. He has really good wiggle as well, is a really shifty guy. He understands where we’re trying to run the ball and what’s going to be open depending on what happens with the defenses. It’s something that he has a knack for, just football and understanding where the flow of the play is going to go.”
Ehlinger loves to run. He’ll happily tuck his head like some fullback of yesteryear rather than slide or escape to the sideline. But the hope is UT won’t rely quite as much on his elusiveness this year.
“We might not have done our part,” Young said of last year’s run-game struggles. “But as a team, maybe we just didn’t click yet. But that’s really all in the past, I don’t even really think about last year. I’m just worried about getting better now.”
At least outwardly, no player or coach has claimed to be pursuing some vendetta against Maryland for what happened during last season’s opener at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
“Honestly, it’s not even really about them,” Young said. “We’re just going up there to do our job. We know we can do it, we’ve just got to go up and do it.”
Formidable opener
Even as a pall of uncertainty settles over a Maryland program now embroiled in a pair of scandals, Texas can’t overlook a team that, just one year ago, scored 51 points and gained 482 yards in front of a flabbergasted UT home crowd. The Terrapins return eight offensive starters, including all five offensive linemen, though they did lose Big Ten receiver of the year D.J. Moore to the NFL.
“Everybody always comes out ready to play against Texas, so I expect no different,” senior defensive lineman Charles Omenihu said. “We have that mentality that they’re going to give us they’re best shot, and we’re going to do the same.”