San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Several key Longhorns appear on watch lists for major awards
AUSTIN — With each passing day, the likelihood of college football being played this fall grows bleaker.
Already, the Big Ten and Pac-12 have canceled all non-conference games scheduled for this year. The Ivy League and Patriot League canceled all fall sports, football included. More of these types of announcements will come as the Aug. 29 opening date creeps closer.
But the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t affected the preseason watch lists that always pop up midsummer. And several Texas Longhorns were listed among those to watch for three of the nation’s most coveted awards.
Here’s a look at the four Longhorns named so far to watch lists.
Sam Ehlinger, QB
Davey O’Brien Award
Ehlinger might have the best chance of any Longhorns player of winning a major award this season. But even the senior quarterback will find it hard to overcome an uber-talented field led by Clemson junior Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State junior Justin Fields.
Ehlinger also won’t have the steady hands of wideouts Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson to fling passes to. There’s a vast amount of talent still at Texas, but Ehlinger will have to work harder than ever to guide a more unproven group of skill position players.
But it’s Ehlinger’s legs and parttime work as a goal-line back that could keep him among the O’Brian Award’s top three. In 36 career games, the 6-foot-3, 230pound quarterback has rushed for 1,376 yards and 21 touchdowns, including a school position-record 16 in 2018.
Keaontay Ingram, RB
Doak Walker Award
Ingram’s hallmark through two seasons has been efficiency.
As a tailback, the former Carthage star has gained 1,428 yards on 264 carries (5.4 yards per attempt) with nine touchdowns. As a receiver, he’s totaled 51 receptions for 362 yards (7.1 yards per catch) and five scores.
“He’s a guy who’s going to come to work every day regardless of the situation,” Ehlinger said. “He’s been doing a great job of keeping his head down and getting better.
“He plays fast. He hits the holes hard. And once he gets to the second level, I know for sure I wouldn’t want to see him in open space.”
With the right workload and mindset, Ingram could put up some big numbers. But he’s unlikely to become a workhorse in a UT backfield that also includes breakout converted quarterback Roschon Johnson and five-star freshman Bijan Robinson, ranked the No. 1 running back in the nation by 247Sports.
Joseph Ossai, JACK
Chuck Bednarik Award
Of all the players new defensive coordinator Chris Ash inherited from Todd Orlando, JACK linebacker Joseph Ossai could be the most vital.
He’ll slide into what feels like a perfect role as the Longhorns’ new hybrid defensive end/linebacker. That should allow the 6foot-4, 255-pound junior to showcase his tremendous athleticism and sound instinct.
“When you’re looking at the defense and building a defense, you want to start up front.” Ash said. “And when I look up front, there are a lot of big, strong, physical players coming back who played a lot of snaps last year. We have to identify our primary pass-rushers, and I think Joseph has an opportunity to be one of those types of guys.”
The good news for Ossai is seven of the past eight winners of the nation’s highest defensive honor were linebackers and linemen.
And if his breakout defensive MVP performance in the Alamo Bowl is an indication — nine tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks — Ossai is poised for one of the more explosive defensive campaigns in recent program history.
Caden Sterns, S
Chuck Bednarik Award
Sterns, who has fully recovered from offseason knee surgery, has a far more difficult path to staying in the Bednarik Award race.
Only three defensive backs —
Patrick Peterson (2010), Tyrann Mathieu (2011) and Minkah Ftizpatrick (2017) — have claimed the award since 2000. That’s not a level Sterns has played at, even after claiming Big 12 defensive freshman of the year honors in 2018 as a first-year starter.
Injuries limited Sterns, a former Steele standout, to nine games and eight starts in 2019. And when he did play, Sterns was clearly out of sorts. That, among a litany of other injuries in the secondary, led to Texas finishing No. 127 out of 130 teams in passing defense.
But just having a healthy Sterns back on the field full-time will be a boost, even if he isn’t a serious contender for this particular award.
“Caden, he’s a good example of a guy who can make somebody else better around him or make a handful of guys better around him,” former Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said last November. “And he’s got the talent, there’s no doubt about it.”