Texas Football midseason superlatives, per Pro Football Focus
The No. 8 Texas Longhorns (5-1, 2-1) enjoyed a bye this week, but it gave Inside Texas a chance to look at the highest graded players, position-by-position, according to PFF.
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OFFENSE
QB – Quinn Ewers, 81.0
Ewers has been fantastic for most of the season at the midway point. He’s 128-of-184 passing, 1,704 yards, 11 touchdown passes, and three interceptions. He’s added five rushing scores on the ground.
RB – Jonathon Brooks, 85.9
After not being the opening day starter, Brooks went ahead, took the job and hasn’t looked back. He’s the Offense MVP with a team-leading 85.9% overall grade to go with 726 yards rushing and six touchdowns on 108 carries. He’s also added 127 yards receiving and a scoring catch.
WR – Xavier Worthy, 70.1, Adonai Mitchell, 65.5
The duo of Worthy and Mitchell have paced the Texas passing attack in 2023. Worthy notched 453 yards and three touchdowns on 34 catches, while the Georgia transfer Mitchell added 354 yards and four touchdowns on 25 catches.
TE – Ja’Tavion Sanders, 70.3
Even with Sanders playing but banged up lately, he’s still been strong this year. Sanders has 291 yards receiving and one touchdown on 14 catches, which includes two 100-game performances, the only Texas tight end to accomplish the feat in program history.
OL – Christian Jones, 79.0, Kelvin Banks, 72.3
Jones has been the leader amongst the offensive linemen. With 424 snaps, Jones leads the team in run-blocking, 79.0%, and pass-blocking at 82.0%. Banks has added a 76.8% pass-block grade in 428 snaps.
DEFENSE
DL/EDGE – T’Vondre Sweat, 91.1, Ethan Burke, 69.1
Sweat is your Defensive MVP with a team-high 91.1% overall grade. He’s notched 18 tackles, four tackles for loss, four quarterback hurries, and one sack six games into the season. Burke leads the EDGE backers with 18 tackles, three tackles for loss, and two sacks.
LB – Anthony Hill Jr., 65.8, Jaylan Ford, 64.7
The true freshman Hill Jr leads the linebackers in overall grade, while Ford has added 40 tackles, five tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries, and two interceptions for the All-American linebacker.
CB/N – Jahdae Barron, 76.3, Malik Muhammad, 71.3
Barron has been incredibly valuable all over the field. He’s tallied 32 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery in six games. The true freshman Muhammad leads the corners with 71.3% overall grade and a cornerback-high 72.2% coverage grade.
S – Jerrin Thompson, 70.2
Thompson leads the Texas safeties in multiple categories. He’s notched 13 tackles, three pass breakups, and two interceptions (one returned for a TD) at the midseason point.
