What's next for the Longhorns at wide receiver?
After Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian announced Joshua Moore’s intention to enter the transfer portal and Moore’s subsequent appearance in the database, Texas will be without its top five receivers from the 2020 season this weekend versus the Kansas Jayhawks.
Though without that group of Moore, Jordan Whittington, Jake Smith, Brennan Eagles, and Tarik Black from last year, the Longhorns do have Xavier Worthy. The freshman from Fresno leads Texas in receiving yards with 696, and has tied Longhorn great Roy Williams’ record for receiving touchdowns as a freshman with his eight scores.
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Worthy and Moore were mainstays at the receiver position in 2021. Worthy has officially started every game this year, while Moore has either started or seen starter-level snaps when Texas began the game in 12 personnel with two tight ends, two wideouts, and one running back on the field.
But in recent weeks, Moore’s snap count waned as a result of poor performance, behind-the-scenes friction, Texas’ usage of 12 personnel, and Marcus Washington’s emergence. Washington started versus Oklahoma and has seen his usage go up since Whittington injured his collarbone in the Red river Shootout.
When Texas takes the field on Saturday against Kansas, it will likely do so in 12 personnel. But Sarkisian can’t keep two tight ends on the field all the time. At some point, a third wide receiver will be needed.
Kelvontay Dixon seems like the most likely to see action when Texas needs three wide receivers. The Carthage native had three targets and one reception against Iowa State. A group of Dixon, Worthy, and Washington offers a little bit of everything skill-wise, but is very unproven.
Behind them? Even more uncertainty.
As of Monday evening, Texas had not released a depth chart for its matchup with the Jayhawks. But a look at the one available for the Iowa State game can provide some potential options available to Sarkisian and wide receiver coach Andre Coleman.
Texas listed Worthy ahead of Dixon at one receiver position. For another, Washington was listed ahead of Al’Vonte Woodard and Kai Money. For the third role, the now former Longhorn Moore was listed ahead of true freshman Casey Cain.
If Worthy, Washington, and Dixon are WR1, WR2, and WR3, respectively, Woodard and Money provide experienced options for the fourth wideout role. However, they offer little as far as career production, let alone production this season. Money has the only catch between the two of them, a seven-yard grab in Texas’ blowout win over Rice.
Not listed on the depth chart but on the roster are DaJon Harrison and Montrell Estell. Harrison is listed as having appeared versus Oklahoma, while Estell has only played in blowout wins over Rice and Texas Tech. Neither have recorded a reception this year.
Rather than go further and further down the depth chart, Texas could be content to utilize 12 personnel. The Longhorns have started five games with Cade Brewer and Jared Wiley on the field together, and play the pairing on a significant number of standard downs.
Could one solution be in the tight end room? Sarkisian has thought highly enough of true freshman Juan Davis to try to manufacture touches for him. However, many of those touches have been easy to spot from the beginning of the play just by Davis’ presence on the field.
Outside of Worthy, any of the potential solutions have their fair share of pitfalls be it experience or otherwise.
If teams focus on Worthy, as Iowa State did with good effect, pressure will only mount on the remaining receivers or tight ends on the field.
Whether they’ll be able to stand up to that pressure is one of the biggest questions ahead of Sarkisian and the Longhorns ahead of their final three games.
