Five Texas Longhorns Who Must Step Up Against UTEP

Last week, we talked about some Texas Football duos we wanted to see emerge as we headed into the easier portion of the out-of-conference slate, with three games (now two) and a bye week separating the Ohio State loss and a matchup in Gainesville against Florida.

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There were some successes on that list. Lance Jackson and Kobe Black saw a significant increase in snaps and played really well against San Jose State. Kaliq Lockett and Kade Phillips each made a big play in their limited snaps, and it’s clear that this coaching staff values Daylan McCutcheon as a key asset going forward.

But a lot still went wrong for Texas, especially in early drives and with blocking in the run game. After an okay performance from the offense and another stellar one from the defense against SJSU, a few specific players are looking to “get right” heading into UTEP.

Christian Clark

I, frankly, didn’t like what I saw from Christian Clark against the Spartans. The run blocking didn’t do him any favors, but he was extremely indecisive behind the line of scrimmage and ran into tackles multiple times.

The player we saw against SJSU can’t be relied on against Florida and Oklahoma, but he was also taking his first career carries in college football. We wouldn’t have hyped up Clark this offseason if there wasn’t belief he can be a good back for this team.

I think Texas knows what it’s got with CJ Baxter, and I think independent of the offensive line, he’s actually looked really good this year. If Quintrevion Wisner is out again, which seems likely, I would love to see Clark get around 12 touches.

Jerrick Gibson could’ve been the choice here, but he needs more than just one get-right game. He needs to keep the ball off the ground against both UTEP and Sam Houston State.

Ryan Wingo

Did you know Ryan Wingo has started the season slow?

You guys are tired of hearing about it, but we’re not going to stop mentioning it until he turns it around. Six catches and 65 yards on 16 targets is a horrible way to start the year, even if many of those targets came from poor Arch Manning throws.

I can deal with DeAndre Moore being more of a role player in this offense, but Texas has a hard-capped ceiling if Wingo isn’t good this year. This has to be the get-right game for him and Manning. Silence everyone with an 8-135-2 stat line.

Connor Stroh

Stroh has been pretty bad to start the season—so bad that it makes you question why he was the choice over Neto Umeozulu.

I will almost always trust Sark and his staff in these sorts of cases because they see far more reps of these players throughout the offseason than we do. But Stroh has looked poor in the run game and weak against even smaller defensive tackles. For such a big guy, he rarely gets push in the run game.

I doubt this battle is over, and Sarkisian even said that they will continue to rotate him and Umeozulu, but he needs to have a game of bully ball against a bad UTEP defensive line. The same can be said for every offensive lineman not named Goosby, though.

Colin Simmons

In a similar vein to Wingo, we just expect more from him.

It does have to be frustrating to have so much attention from blockers as only a true sophomore in his first two games starting, but five penalties to start the year is woeful from the star edge rusher.

We need a full 45 minutes (he shouldn’t be playing in the fourth quarter) of Simmons impacting the game as a rusher, tackler, and even pass defender without sloppy mistakes. He doesn’t even need to produce multiple sacks, especially given that he likely doesn’t eclipse 40 snaps. We just need consistency and a more relaxed approach to the game. Plays will come to him, and he needs to realize that.

Derek Williams

We really haven’t heard much about Derek Williams. Maybe that’s poor reporting from me for not asking, but it feels like no one is talking about the fact that he’s had just 18 snaps on the season. That’s 23rd on the team, behind fellow safety Xavier Filsaime.

It’s clear that they’re looking to ease him into the defense coming off a season-ending injury, but now might be the time to get him back into the swing of things. You want him fresh for Florida, and you do want him to be a factor.

The emergence of Graceson Littleton as a stud in the secondary and Jelani McDonald showing he can play a full game of high-level football does hurt Williams’s total time on the field, but he’s too talented to be a rotational player. Texas will be at its best when it can rotate through seven DBs, all of whom could start on any team in the nation.