After Casey's performance today, Sam Ehlinger can't be the QB next year

If he has championship level players and coaching around him, why would he not be?

 

Casey Thompson graduates in May
With three years of eligibility remaining
After that performance, he is going to be hearing from a lot of teams

 

I said this earlier but I think every B12 team beats Colorado. Casey was good but the defense was terrible. I hope Sam goes but with a new QB, there will be bumps in the road - TCU, OU, etc

And if Herman stays, you can guarantee he will:
- abandon the run game at crucial times
- give away pts
- lose to 1 or more lesser teams
- remind us - winning is hard and this is a young team

 

Can’t we just leave this shiz up to Meyer when he gets here? What are we paying him $10M a year for?

 

Sam has probably improved as much as he can with Herman. Time for him to move on.

 

I was thourghly impressed with Thompson last night, especially with one specific throw. That throw he made to Brewer when Brewer was well covered, I mean well covered, was thrown to the one spot where only Brewer can catch it. That throw was Joe burrow-esque. To make that throw took confidence and guts (ok, maybe a little desperation also). But if that throw was a snapshot of what he can do then we maybe looking at an elite QB, an elite QB with speed. Granted I am referring to one throw but he did have others like that one thrown deep when our receiver was molested for interference. He almost caught the ball one handed. That was a perfectly thrown deep ball. If we can get a receiver with elite speed just think of what we can do.
Also kudos go to Brewer for making that catch. It was all hands. Nicely done.
It's still early to say these things about Thompson and time will tell but I am just plain giddy about his potential.

 

This cracks me up. I think it was mentioned elsewhere, but people thought Gilbert would be great. Childs. Swoopes. On and on.

What has Herman shown that would indicate that any QB under his tutelage would develop and improve?

 

This was an outstanding play

 

He did some pretty good work with the Buckeyes QBs a few years ago, no?

 

Maybe you're not really cynical or negative by nature, maybe you've just been trained that way in recent years but let's not be a sourpuss continually.
I expect Herman to be gone in the next couple of weeks. That's one bright prospect.
Even if he is here next season you really think he would ruin Thompson's progress? He didn't last night. I think that Herman wants Thompson to be super successful, especially if he wants to keep his job. So Herman will give Yurcich full reigns to showcase Thompson's skills. He did last night. So don't be a sour puss let this play out.

 

Don't worry, in the next week if it becomes clear that TH is still the coach, I'll cancel my sponsorship and log out. You won't have to see my sourpuss comments.

But my point was that we always get excited about the next great QB based on very limited exposure. And this was against a very crappy team.

Sam had a good deep ball until he got his *** handed to him the last few years having to run for his life and sustaining shoulder injuries. Maybe that wouldn't be the case for this QB.

 

Casey looked great last night. I hope he's the second coming of Tua Tagovailoa, a guy who started the second half of an important football game and never looked back. But, for every Tua there's probably a couple of dozen one hit wonders who could never reprise their success. We'll see.

 

Perhaps Herman's mindset will change for next season. He no longer has a fullback/mule as a QB. Now he has a stallion. Even if Herman has a hard time adapting Yurcich will let that stallion run and frolic in the pasture. Yurcich or a different OC will be on a mission to bring out the best in Thompson. And let's not forget about Card. Maybe we have two very good QBs.
At first I was upset that JQJ portaled out but Thompson's performance last night has taken some sting out of that. Don't get me wrong I think JQJ will be an outstanding quarterback but I think that Thompson may be even better. If he makes those good throws consistently, skies the limit.

 

Those were some really good throws but there was also a "Backup comes up and we start calling better plays" syndrome aspect (the game where Case McCoy replaced Ash against Kansas is example #1 of that).

Sam's struggled on out routes and on deep balls most of the year. The medium routes over the middle, he was pretty good at. So naturally when Thompson comes in we immediately call several 10-20 yard in routes, plus used Bijan a fair amount more than we had in the 2nd quarter.

Also, that was a near-perfect ball to Dixon, but how often has anyone for UT all year gone deep and burned his man that badly? Hardly at all. Mostly they've been 50/50 balls which our men have generally not ended up with even when accurately thrown.

 

Sam played with all of his heart and to every bit of his ability. This is why he will be well regarded in longhorn circles for a long time. But he had limitations. We all saw that early on and I was disappointed that buchele moved on to SMU. I am also disappointed that Herman settled for a slightly better than average quarterback without giving the backups a chance to play, a chance to see how good they are, a chance to see what limitations they might have. I've always known that Sam was not the one to take us to the promised land so it has to be somebody else, but he fit Herman's mould, and he stuck with him, too bad. Now we have a different horse and Herman needs to adapt.

 

Personally I was blown away by what I saw last night. Forget about the competition, except for those two stellar corners. The display Thompson put on transcends the competition. Specifically:

Arm Strength - Wow! Simply wow!

Accuracy - As others have noted, Aaron Rogers would have been proud of some of those throws.

Movement in the Pocket - Impressive.

Escapability - Also impressive.

While there should be an open competition in the spring for the job, our eyes didn’t lie last night. Thompson is clearly the leader in the clubhouse.

 

I just want to see a kid from OKC in a Texas uniform win us a game against OU. It would be a nice sight as opposed to kids from Texas in OU uniforms beating us on a regular basis now.

 

I’ve wondered some about Sam’s throws, short of target, some behind the target. Could be that he injured the shoulder early on in the season, but it only flared occasionally so he could still play well enough. Might be that it was an undiagnosed previous injury that the hit in the bowl game made worse. Just a thought.

 

What if he can't execute? What if the Alamo Bowl is a fluke? Tell me the pressure he's under 70 miles down the road. Is this Texas OU? Is it the ccg? One game, that's it. Proof will be in the pudding.

 

Some here sure get excited about wins over Kstate and an also-ran from the Pac12. We can't play them every week, folks...

 

No kidding captain obvious.

And we all know there will be tougher games ahead of him but why piss on our excitement in the meantime.
I guess we are just so beaten down that we have to continuously think negatively.

May all your hopes come true and your dreams become reality.

 

I get it, it's been an "awesome" 2020. Lots of controversy/eyes of texas/covid/you name it. I'll equate it to Texas laying half a hundred on UTEP and then "whoo-hoo"! Seems silly. BUT it was a great win, and I understand the reaction to my negativity. 1000 pardons. There is a lot of unknowns. Hopefully the national championship game will get here before we know it and the day after should reveal what reality is for Texas football. Happy New Year to you and yours!

 

+ Greg Ward

 

CT looks just his type....I never thought Sam quite fit his mold....was just the best thing he had available

 

Mr. Negative. If you were not impressed with the performances by Bijan, Thompson, Collins and Overshown (to name four players) then you weren’t watching the same game.

You don’t have to measure a performance “exclusively” based on the competition. Bijan’s moves and vision were obvious, regardless of the competition. Thompson’s accuracy and arm strength were obvious, regardless of the competition. Collins pick on the screen pass was an extraordinarily play, regardless of the competition, as were many of Overshown’s hits.

Would Texas have beaten OU 55-24? Probably not. But if you cannot acknowledge the special performances we saw last night, there’s some other motivation in play with your posts.

 

I was super impressed with Bijan.... the reason I'm dubious about our future is that our coaches, having seen the same thing we saw, gave the ball to Roschon more in the first half than they did Bijan.......

 

Bijan has that special quality that Jamaal Charles had. He just makes defenders lean one way and then he passes them on the other side. Plus it doesn't take a big hole in the line for him to zip through and he is usually zipping.
The difference is that Charles had elite speed. But Bijan has that quick starting speed also that will leave a defender behind. He doesn't have Charles'speed but he does have his elusiveness and quickness.

 

The youth movement that began in Manhattan took it up a notch last night. The most exciting thing to see was the energy shift when this occurred. It was palpable. The players were out there letting it rip and having fun. As were the fans.

Sam will be remembered as a VERY good UT quarterback. The OU game in 18 as well as the Sugar Bowl win over UGA are nice highlights. But, ironically, his biggest contribution to Longhorn Nation will be the photo of him singing the Eyes all by himself in Dallas. That picture did more to rally the fans/alums to the University than anything else.

I think Sam will move on. And he'll be missed greatly. But I believe his name will live on for many generations as the man who stood up for UT when no one else would. And for that reason, he's a Longhorn Legend.

 

Whoa, I said when all were moaning ‘woe is us with CT as Sams replacement” that I thought he could do it. But after one good half I’m not ready to crown him the new king. I think a reason TH does so well in bowl games is he convinces the players to play with no pressure.I cannot remember our defense - so many Freshman

 

Just told that Bijan broke a 60 year Texas record for YPC at 8.2, erasing James Saxton’s record of 1962.

He has done something else that is rare, exceeding 200 yards from scrimmage on only 12 touches. And in back-to-back games. This per Rod Babers.