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Texas needs Ryan Wingo and Arch Manning to start connecting

by: Justin Nash7 hours ago
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Ryan Wingo (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Ryan Wingo entered the year with a ton of hype and expectations to fill the lead receiving role after quite a few good years from that position. So far the play on the field quite simply has not met expectations, and it is limiting the Texas offense. However, if a connection between Arch Manning and Wingo starts to appear, this Texas offense will take off like a rocket.

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If you were to ask people who the best receiver is for Texas, most would answer Parker Livingstone, nearly all the remaining votes would go to Jack Endries, and anything left probably goes to Wingo. Right now the only receivers Texas has with over 100 yards after two games are Livingstone and Endries. That does not get reflected in the target share.

In a previous article talking about which Longhorns could log 1000 receiving yards, we looked at how often Steve Sarkisian‘s offenses targeted the lead wide receiver, as well as the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth options plus anyone else.

Below is a chart showing the percentage of targets to each WR in order of team target share. So far with a team leading 16 targets, Wingo is clearly in the WR1 role in the first two games. This could change like when Quintrevion Wisner took over the lead duties for Jaydon Blue in 2024 after Blue’s fumbling problems.

But what’s evident is Wingo is a piece of the offense Texas needs to get going.

For UT/25, the last row:

Another statistic that shows the shear difference in volume is Intended Air Yards. That accounts for the total yards downfield for all throws to a particular WR, whether or not they were completed. Wingo has a clear lead over the rest with 273 Intended Air Yards, the next closest being Livingstone at 116. When you look at the Air Yards, which is the same concept but only applied to completed passes. Livingstone has the lead at 86, with a little bit of yards after the catch sprinkled in.

A way you could apply these two stats to show what the Texas offense has been missing out on in incomplete passes is to look at the difference of the two numbers. Through two games Texas has been missing a lot of yardage in incomplete passes to Wingo. That yardage that not only potentially changes the outcome of Ohio State, but changes the perception of Manning and the explosiveness of the Sarkisian offense.

This is not to point a finger at Wingo, though he’s had some mishaps himself. For whatever reason he and Manning haven’t been able to get on the same page.

One thing is for certain, if Manning and Wingo can start to connect, this Texas offense gets dangerous in a hurry. It will benefit the running game as well as the other receivers like Livingstone, Moore, and Endries.

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