Ask IT: Who was Texas' offensive player of the year?
The Texas Longhorns completed a 12-2 season with a Big 12 Championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff thanks to the contributions of a plethora of players on both sides of the ball.
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On defense, it’s tough to argue that anyone other than T’Vondre Sweat was Texas’ defensive player of the year. But on offense? The answer is up for debate.
Inside Texas posed the question to the Members Only message board on Sunday with the following options.
- QB Quinn Ewers
- RB Jonathon Brooks
- WR Adonai Mitchell
- WR Xavier Worthy
- TE Ja’Tavion Sanders
- LT Kelvin Banks
- RT Christian Jones
- WR Jordan Whittington
After almost a day’s worth of voting, here were the results as of 8 a.m. on Monday.
- Jonathon Brooks: 51.6 percent
- Adonai Mitchell: 23.1 percent
- Quinn Ewers: 14.9 percent
- Xavier Worthy: 3.3 percent
- Jordan Whittington: 3.2 percent
- Ja’Tavion Sanders: 2.0 percent
- Kelvin Banks: 1.7 percent
- Christian Jones: 0.2 percent
Members of Inside Texas explained their choices.
Jonathon Brooks
I chose Brooks because he really was our most valuable offensive player time and again, coming up with a big run, or catch, or even picking up a blitz. He was a quiet, humble leader in a talented room of young fellas, but also a guy the entire offense looked to as a leader, even post-injury. Quinn would be 2 for me, and Mitchell would likely be 3. You can make cases for at least 6 and not be far off…
HuffTex
*****
With Brooks, we’re probably playing in Houston tomorrow.
hookem89
*****
Brooks for me. He kept us in the hunt when nothing else seemed to work. Banks would be my #2.
jetman49
*****
I took Brooks over Mitchell.
Brooks was a true difference maker at RB with demonstrated ability to put the offense on his back and carry them. Baxter and Blue did fine in his absence, but they didn’t perform at Brooks’ level.
To me, Mitchell was the best overall receiver. Started a bit slow with some iffy blocking performances, but he cleaned that up and was a complete, high-level player for us.
Levander Williams
*****
What Brooks provided to the offense was invaluable. When Texas’ offense was humming, it was often centered around Brooks being in rhythm, catching passes out of the backfield, ripping off long runs or picking up a blitz to keep 3 clean.
tcl0035
*****
J Brooks and I don’t think it’s very close. He was the steadying force throughout the rocky start of the season, and he was mostly responsible for us icing the Bama game. Huge.
Memphis Horn
Adonai Mitchell
Mitchell was the difference between being a Big 12 Champion and an also ran.
raistlin
*****
AD for me. Opened up the offense in ways we hadn’t seen in forever. Had a ton of clutch plays including the catch to seal the win at TCU, the catch to keep us in the semi, the TD at Bama, etc.
I thought about Brooks too, but the injury plus his backups being pretty good also sorta mellowed his player of the year choice in my eyes
dick fingers
*****
I cast a vote for Mitchell. More from the ‘trickle down’ affect he had than from production, (although that was significant in its on right).
Without Mitchell’s counter balance effect, Worthy probably would not have had the production he had. Mitchell’s threat loosened the coverage, freeing Worthy to some extent.
And the threat provided by Worthy on one side, Mitchell on the other, kept the safeties from consistently giving strong run support. Benefit… Brooks, Baxter, Blue.
Mitchell’s production was big, and his presence giving Ewers’ dual threats was even bigger.
dos bobby
*****
AD. Would easily be Brooks had he not gotten hurt. AD is arguably the reason why Murphy had success with Quinn out too.
THurt512
*****
Initially, my thought was Brooks. If he hadn’t got hurt, he would have probably gotten my vote. Hard to discount the valuable role Mitchell played though. He simply wasn’t replaceable and came up big at crucial times, repeatedly. So, I voted for Mitchell. However, if we would have had Brooks reliable hands in our last game we may not even be having this conversation until next week. Lots of really big contributors though; Quin, X, JT, J Whit, et.al.
vulcat
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Quinn Ewers
Without Ewers we don’t even win the Big 12. This was a no brainer.
Doc Longhorn
*****
I chose Quinn by a nose over Brooks. Quinn gets my vote because he plays the most important position (distributor/point guard). Took a look at the season stats for the Adonai Mitchell thread and was struck by the number of guys who had good, productive seasons. The thing that made Texas hard to defend was that array of threats. That doesn’t happen without Sark’s offense and play calling utilizing them and Quinn executing to get all involved.
hopefulhorn
*****
In today’s game, the QB is always the MVP
cyclist
*****
Quinn, fairly easily for me. Drop off is the greatest at the position of highest importance. How quickly we forget the QB play for the majority of the last 10-15 years
LonghornFocus
