Texas Longhorns Football

Texas football fell to 7-5 following a 24-10 loss at Baylor on Friday. The defeat ended a disappointing regular season after the Longhorns started the year ranked 10th in the Associated Press preseason poll. 

After the game, Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger provided an optimistic outlook on the team's year.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Ehlinger said per Jim Vertuno of the Associated Press. "If you had told Texas fans three years ago that we would have seven wins and headed to a bowl game and had a chance to win eight, I think people would be pretty happy...Overall, we did a great job."

Texas finished 5-7 three years ago, a campaign that marked the end of former head coach Charlie Strong's three-year tenure.

Strong went 16-21 in three seasons, and Tom Herman took over in 2017. A 7-6 campaign started the ex-Houston head coach's Longhorns era before Texas went 10-4, finished ninth in the Associated Press poll and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl last year.

After that win, Ehlinger told the Sugar Bowl crowd that Texas football was "back."

It sure seemed like it following the impressive victory, and the Longhorns rode that momentum into 2019.

However, Texas struggled to a 7-5 season, with its defeats coming by an average of eight points. The Longhorns also nearly lost to a 3-8 Kansas team at home before eventually winning 50-48.

Texas is bowl-eligible this season by virtue of hitting the six-win mark. Still, most Texas fans are used to winning 10-plus games a year and earning a prestigious bowl bid.

Under former head coach Mack Brown, Texas won 10 or more games from 2001-2009 and took home the 2005 BCS National Championship over USC.

The Longhorns won seven bowls during that span and also made the 2009 BCS National Championship, which ended in a loss to Alabama.

The 2010s have not been kind to Texas, however, with the team winning just 10 games once (last year). The Longhorns have only won eight or more games four times and have missed out on bowl season on three occasions.

Compared to the rest of the decade, Texas was around its par for the 2010s this season. However, Longhorns fans wanting more have been left disappointed.

Texas Longhorns head coach Tom Herman provided an injury update Monday with a trio of key defensive backs facing a significant stint on the sideline.

According to Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman, Herman said that safety Caden Sterns will miss four weeks with a knee ligament sprain, while cornerback Jalen Green is out four weeks with a shoulder injury and corner Josh Thompson will miss "significant time" with a broken foot.

The Longhorns' secondary woes don't end there, as B.J. Foster and DeMarvion Overshown already missed Saturday's 36-30 win over Oklahoma State, though Herman said he was hopeful that pair would return for the West Virginia game Oct. 5, per Davis.

Nonetheless, having five players from one defensive unit battling injuries is tough to overcome, even if Herman is trying to stay positive:

Herman says he "hasn't lost too much sleep" despite the secondary injuries. Feels good about the reserves. And Texas coming off strong D performance against Okla State.

— Brian Davis (@byBDavis) September 23, 2019

It wasn't only the secondary that suffered losses.

"Marcus Tillman has a third-degree sprain to his MCL, which will require surgery," Herman said of the freshman linebacker, per Taylor Estes of 247Sports.com. "He will be out for the rest of the season."

For a 3-1 Texas team with Big 12 title and College Football Playoff aspirations, getting as healthy as possible before an October slate of games that includes tough matchups against West Virginia, Oklahoma (Oct. 12) and TCU (Oct. 26) will be key. 

To this point, Texas has been impressive in blowout wins over Louisiana Tech and Rice, a tough win over Oklahoma State and even in a shootout loss against LSU. But it has to be a bit concerning for the coaching staff that the defense has given up 68 points against LSU and Oklahoma State, especially with all of the injuries to the secondary.

That could loom large against Oklahoma in particular. The Sooners and Jalen Hurts are averaging 352.3 passing yards per game, seventh in the nation, and 55.7 points per game, second in the country. The Red River Showdown could very well be quite the shootout yet again this season. 

Given Texas' spate of defensive injuries, that style of game could favor Oklahoma. And losing that game just might cost Herman some sleep.

LSU football fans have found Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger's cellphone number and are calling and texting him en masse in advance of the Saturday showdown between the Top 10 schools, according to ESPN's Maria Taylor.

The reporter relayed the news Friday on The Paul Finebaum Show (h/t Billy Embody of Geaux247).

"First of all, I've got to tell you this, that somehow LSU fans have found out Sam's number," Taylor told Finebaum fill-in Tony Barnhart.

"So he's got like 600-something text messages on his phone from LSU fans, and he's getting calls nonstop, but he's dealing with it, like—these are the games that he came to Texas to play for."

Ehlinger probably needs a new cellphone number if he hasn't acquired one already, but he has more important matters to worry about as the No. 9 Longhorns host the No. 6 Tigers on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Both teams started the season with dominant wins: LSU took down Georgia Southern 55-3, and Texas beat Louisiana Tech 45-14.

Texas is a 6.5-point underdog, per Caesars.

Texas head coach Tom Herman said Monday that receiver Joshua Moore will be suspended for the team's season opener against Louisiana Tech, per Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman.

Moore was arrested in August and charged with carrying a loaded pistol without a license, according to Mark Schlabach of ESPN. 

Herman said he will wait for the legal process to play out and the player's availability will be determined on a week-to-week basis, per Jeff Jones of KVUE.

Per Schlabach, Moore was arrested at gunpoint in downtown Austin after officials noticed a man "remove a firearm from his waistband" in a parking lot. 

He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 23, per Schlabach.

"We're aware of the situation with Joshua Moore," Herman said in a statement earlier this month. "We have talked with him and his family and are handling this internally at this time but will continue to monitor the legal process. We will determine any further action upon the completion of that process."

The sophomore appeared in four games last season, totaling seven catches for 53 yards and a touchdown before a shoulder injury ended his year in October.

Texas will likely rely upon seniors Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay at receiver, although the team will likely need younger players to contribute if Moore remains unavailable.

AUSTIN, Texas — She never told him how it tore her heart apart when he collapsed on the floor after hearing the news.

He never told her how he grieved, hiding in his room at night and burying tears in a pillow.    

When you're going through hell, sometimes it seems like the only way to hold yourself together is to protect those you love from your dark and desperate feelings.

"The pain was consuming," junior Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger says.

So too is the sweet embrace of collecting a broken life and piecing it back together.

"We'll never be the same," Jena Ehlinger, Sam's mom, says. "But we will have a beautiful life."

This is a story of love. Of a family that carried one another through the sudden and crushing death of a husband and father.

It's also a story of how we cope with grief. Of a family that never really told one another of the honor and respect that grew out of their unique, unstated bond of perseverance. Until now.

Sam Ehlinger's lips purse as he considers the topic, considers his mother opening up about it. He stares into the distance as he contemplates the all-encompassing emotional journey that began March 3, 2013, when he was just 14 and his father, Ross, died of a heart attack.

The words don't come easy.

"She is…it's hard to explain...my inspiration," Ehlinger says softly. "She lost the love of her life—and she was thrown into raising three young kids by herself. You just think to yourself, How does someone do that?"

It's so easy to travel back to that moment, the one day that forever changed what he knew of life, love and sorrow.

Ross had been found floating in the San Francisco Bay during an ironman triathlete event he was competing in. Jena had endured a long flight home and, hours after returning, was explaining the awful reality to her children.

Sam collapsed on the kitchen floor, and Jena felt like her soul was ripped out of her.

Then Ross' hand—Sam swears there's no other explanation—reached out one more time.

He used to tell his sons, Sam and younger brother Jake, over and over: "Is there blood? Is there a broken bone? No? You're fine."

"I know what my dad wanted. I know he guided me," Sam says. "Take care of his wife. Take care of my brother and sister. My mom told me, 'Don't feel pressure to be the man of the house.' That was a challenge to me. That's like telling me, 'Don't play football.' She was basically saying don't naturally lead. But naturally, I had to."

Standing in the perfectly appointed house in the Austin suburbs, Jena points to the immaculate kitchen, to where Sam whipped his phone into the wall on that day in 2013, buckled to his knees and fell to the floor in a swift and scary motion.

"God help me if I ever see that again," she says.

This is the home she and Ross built, the home where Sam's dreams of playing quarterback at Texas were cultivated by a father whose love of all things Burnt Orange bordered on obsession.

Jena is told that Sam said he never wanted her to hear of the countless nights he was upstairs in his room, wrecked with grief. He had to be the strong one, he said. If that meant hiding his pain to carry hers, well, there's no broken bones and no blood. You're fine.

Jena holds her hand over her mouth and turns her head. She is told how it wasn't easy for Sam to find the proper way to explain what his mother—and over the last six years, his best friend—means to him.

He called you his inspiration, she is told.

"He said that?" she says, wiping away tears. And the dam of emotion breaks.

"I would like to think I could've done it on my own, but I probably gained more strength from him in the really dark days. You have to find the blessings out of tragedy. Everything just became so real, so harsh, but it also put everything in perspective. We became so appreciative of the little things in life.

"You look at things differently when you go through something that hard and that dark together. Not that we don't still get upset about stupid stuff, like losing football games, but it just kind of helps you look at things in a little bit different perspective."

---

Tom Herman is in his office in the bowels of massive Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium, and the subject of Sam Ehlinger eventually leads to the very moment Herman both hates and adores.

Texas physically dominated SEC heavyweight Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, winning 28-21 to end Year 2 under Herman, a statement game from a program finally finding its way back into the college football elite after a lost decade.

Minutes after the game, while standing on a stage in the middle of the Superdome in New Orleans, Ehlinger screamed into a television camera, "Longhorn Nation, we're back!"

"Yeah, we're not back yet," Herman says now matter-of-factly, because every coach at any level only allows that talk once the whole damn thing is won.

But as quickly as Herman described his annoyance with those brief seconds, he scoots to the back of his posh office and starts to fiddle with a state-of-the-art 70-inch touch-screen television that may as well be a 70-inch computer. (It's Texas, everyone. Roll with it.)

"I gotta show you something," he says, and he finds a photo from the Austin American-Statesman that shows Sam and Jena embracing in the stands at the Superdome while Sam is holding his most outstanding player trophy. "I get choked up every time I see it. And I've seen it a hundred times."

Sam and Jena are crying. They are happy. They are full and whole, finally, again.

"I know this sounds crazy, but my dad was there," Sam said. "As sure as he was there for me when he died, he was there that night at the game in the stands with us. We could feel him celebrating with us."

Ross was a respected trial attorney in Austin and a pretty darn good Pop Warner football coach. He would've loved the Sugar Bowl not just because his beloved Longhorns won and his son—who ran for three touchdowns—was a big part of the reason why but also because of how it all unfolded.

Sam has endured two long years through the critical lens of a Texas quarterback. The fumble at USC. The late, game-changing interceptions against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. The Maryland loss. Catcalls from the home crowd and potshots from talk radio.

Years earlier, when Charlie Strong had the unenviable task of picking up after Mack Brown's Hall of Fame run in Austin ran its course, Strong knew he needed a unique player and personality to change the way Texas thought about football.

He found Ehlinger at Westlake High School and saw Tim Tebow.

"Not only same type of player, but more important, same type of person," said Strong, who was the defensive coordinator at Florida during Tebow's magical four-year run. "He was different. He was uncommon. You only get those players every so often."

Strong was fired after the 2016 season and never got a chance to coach Ehlinger, who was two weeks from joining Texas as a midterm enrollee when Herman arrived.

Nine months later, Ehlinger was on the field in Week 2 of his freshman season, playing critical minutes. By the end of September, he had taken control of the position. But all that did was clear an easy target for a fanbase that hadn't felt secure since Colt McCoy was knocked out of the BCS National Championship Game in 2010 in the first series—a game that every Orangeblood across the 40 acres will swear Texas would've won had McCoy not injured his shoulder.

That was a target Ross knew would eventually be placed on the back of his son. A target he couldn't—and here's the key— shouldn't avoid.

Ross loved Teddy Roosevelt. The tough and gruff personality—the brilliant adventurist who lived life hard and smart with no regrets.

Roosevelt's famous speech, The Man In The Arena, had been framed in Ross' office since law school. On the day he and Jena left for San Francisco, he printed three copies to be framed for his children.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming ... who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Sam chose to play for Texas because he wanted that pressure squarely on his back. He wanted to be the one to lead the Longhorns back to the college football elite.

If it didn't work, it sure as hell wasn't going to be because he never tried.

If becoming the man of his family as a 14-year-old didn't work, you'd better believe it wasn't going to be because he didn't do everything possible to make it happen.

"The way you alleviate the grind is remembering that you're doing what you love. So you find pride and joy in it," Ehlinger says. "When I'm waking up at 4:30 a.m., I enjoy it. I enjoy working out, running, lifting. Going to school, the 15- or 16-hour days. I enjoy every part of it, because I know it's going to pay off and I'm going to see the smile on my teammates' faces when we win.

"I find pride in the grind."

---

Something strange happened when Sam left for college in the winter of 2017. That same sickening feeling of despair came rushing back to the Ehlinger home.

For nearly four years, Sam was the man of the house, sharing parenting duties with Mom. There was pride in the grind of driving Jake and his sister, Morgen, to their various practices.

When any decision had to be made, it inevitably began with Jena asking her children, "Did you ask Sam?"

"At one point, Morgen texted Sam a photo of clothes she was wearing and asked him if they were appropriate," Jena says. "He said, 'Nope, too short.' And she changed."

So when Sam left for Texas, it's no wonder the ship felt like it had lost its rudder.

"I felt like it almost restarted, all of those horrible days," Jake Ehlinger says. "At that point, we were all emotionally stable. But when he left, he looked at me and said: 'OK, you're the man of the house now. Take care of our girls.' You grow up quick when you hear that."

Jake enrolled at Texas earlier this summer, choosing to walk on and play for the Longhorns instead of accepting an FCS scholarship. Morgen is 16, and eventually she plans to go to Texas too.

It's just Jena and Morgen and two rescue dogs at home now. A sign that reads "Live Like Ross"—Jake's Pop Warner team made it for the Ehlingers—is prominently placed in the backyard and visible from every room in the home. Jena has a boyfriend now too.

"It's always weird, the first relationship," Sam says, spinning a Live Like Ross bracelet around his wrist. "But he's great. He treats her well. She likes him, and that makes me happy. Seeing your mother distraught for such a long period of time is one of the worst things you can go through.

"Whatever made her happy and whatever put a smile on her face is what I wanted to see."

---

No matter how Herman tries to avoid it, the idea of Texas being back among the nation's elite isn't going anywhere. That's what happens when you beat Oklahoma and Georgia and win 10 games—and when your quarterback is one of six Power Five conference players in the past 20 years with 25 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns in the same season.

All five prior to Ehlinger—Tebow, Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota, Lamar Jackson—won the Heisman Trophy. Ehlinger is in that conversation heading into this season, and after raising his completion percentage from 57.5 to 64.7 in 2018, he's starting to get some NFL draft buzz too.

"Sam's story is unbelievable," Texas wideout Collin Johnson says. "He grew up dreaming of playing quarterback for Texas. And now he's doing it at a high level. How many guys can say that?"

If there were any doubt that Texas is back and Ehlinger is the reason, look no further than the hottest player in the NFL, who is still focused on his college rival. Former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has turned the league sideways with his play and dynamic personality, took the time this summer to take shots at Ehlinger and Texas while being interviewed on Norman's SportsTalk 400. 

Ross would've loved that. Mayfield is two years removed from Oklahoma and is quickly becoming the new face of the NFL with the Cleveland Browns.

And Sam and Texas are still in his head.

"I love football, everything about it." Sam says. "What it means, how it helps build relationships and teaches teamwork above all else. It's the perfect game.

"But there's so much more to life."

And it's all getting more beautiful every day. Just like Jena promised.

Texas Longhorns receiver Joshua Moore has been charged with misdemeanor gun charges after being arrested in Austin on July 5 on suspicion of carrying a loaded pistol without a license, according to Mark Schlabach of ESPN. 

Per Tulsi Kamath of KXAN, the arrest affidavit noted police noticed Moore "remove a firearm from his waistband, walk in between two vehicles, appearing to chamber a round by pulling the slide of the gun to the rear, and then place the firearm back into his waistband." He was arrested at gunpoint.

Moore, who was released on $6,000 bond, has a court date scheduled for Aug. 22.

Texas coach Tom Herman is aware of the arrest but declined to discuss the sophomore wideout's status with the team at this point, via Kamath:

"We're aware of the situation with Joshua Moore. We have talked with him and his family and are handling this internally at this time, but will continue to monitor the legal process. We will determine any further action upon the completion of that process."

Moore was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school and was rated by 247Sports as the 96th overall recruit in the class of 2018. He played in six games as a freshman last year, hauling in seven catches for 53 yards and one touchdown.

A shoulder injury ended his season in late October. 

Texas added a potential workhorse to its backfield Friday, as 5-star running back Bijan Robinson announced his commitment to the Longhorns. 

Robinson chose Texas over Ohio State. The explosive back rushed for 2,400 yards and 35 touchdowns during his junior season at Salpointe Catholic in Arizona.

247Sports ranks him as the No. 20 player in the 2020 class and is the third-ranked running back. He drew national offers from nearly every major program in the country and is already working around the clock to develop himself into an NFL player.

"In the off-season, I'm training every day," Robinson said, per Richard Obert of the Arizona Republic. "I have a trainer in LA. From January to March, I'm in Tucson. From March on, I'm in L.A. and sometimes Phoenix. I do similar things to what [Los Angeles Rams running back] Todd Gurley does with vertical and agility."

Robinson has certainly built a high school resume worthy of someday playing on Sundays. He's rushed for over 2,000 yards in each of the last two seasons and is averaging 12.0 yards per carry for his career. He already has pro-ready size and top-end speed and could emerge as the best back from the 2020 class if he works on his hands.

The Longhorns already have Keaontay Ingram and Daniel Young in their pipeline ready to go, and both will have eligibility remaining beyond 2019. But Robinson could compete for playing time as a freshman, especially if he continues to impress as a senior. 

Texas is currently the 20th ranked class in 2020. Robinson is the 12th commit and the ninth of 4-star distinction or higher.

Billy Bowman Jr. is staying in Texas. 

The Denton, Texas, native announced his commitment to the University of Texas on Wednesday afternoon. "I started playing this game at 4 years old and always dreamed about playing football on the next level," Bowman wrote, in part, in a note on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Billy2Bowman/status/1156632242984226816

Bowman is a four-star athlete in the class of 2021 and received 26 offers from colleges around the country, including Alabama and Notre Dame, according to 247Sports.

The 5'10", 175-pound prospect is the sixth player in the class of 2021 to commit to the Longhorns—each from the state of Texas.

"It feels like a huge weight is off my shoulders," Bowman told Steve Gamel of the Denton Record-Chronicle after his decision went public. "I'm at home, and [feel] that I made the right decision. I did feel like the time was right. The relationships with the coaches built with me was crucial, and the atmosphere felt right."

"The options for what Texas coach Tom Herman and his staff can do with Bowman are unlimited," Gamel added. "Bowman said he was recruited as an athlete, and it's the coaching staff's goal to get him on the field any way possible." 

Last season, per the Dallas Morning News, Bowman registered 553 yards and eight touchdowns as the Ryan High School Raiders' second-leading receiver. Also in 2018, Bowman made 30 tackles and five interceptions, including scoring three defensive touchdowns (h/t Brian Gosset).

247Sports' Gabe Brooks compared Bowman to Baltimore Ravens cornerback Cyrus Jones when evaluating him in December.

Jalen Milroe is staying in Texas.  

On Sunday, the highly regarded quarterback prospect in the recruiting class of 2021 announced he will join the Texas Longhorns instead of schools such as Texas A&M, Baylor and others:

https://twitter.com/JalenMilroe/status/1153113950197899264

Milroe, who checks in at 6'1½" and 194 pounds, is a 4-star prospect and the No. 74 overall player, No. 3 dual-threat quarterback and No. 11 player from the state of Texas in his class, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

The Longhorns' newest signal-caller wasted little time choosing his school, as Mike Roach of 247Sports reported he received a scholarship offer from Texas after camping with the Big 12 team this summer.

Roach also noted wide receiver Quaydarius Davis and tight end Lake McRee are part of the same class for the Longhorns, which means Milroe will have some targets to work with when he is under center.

He will be part of a crowded future quarterback room considering Texas already has commitments from Hudson Card and Ja'Quinden Jackson in its 2020 class, although the latter can be designated as a versatile athlete who can play elsewhere if needed.

Milroe stands out because of his speed, ability to break loose of pressure in the pocket and tendency to make plays with his legs. However, Gabe Brooks of 247Sports pointed to his "impressive zip, particularly over the middle of the field," underscoring how he is capable of beating defenses in multiple ways.

Texas is trending in the right direction under head coach Tom Herman and improved from 7-6 in his first year to 10-4 with a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia last year. That improvement figures to continue if it consistently finds success on the trail with prospects such as Milroe who can carry the offense for years to come.

Terry Bradshaw has an opinion or two about Texas football, and in typical Terry Bradshaw fashion, he had no problem sharing Thursday afternoon.  

The 70-year-old Hall of Fame quarterback gave what appeared to be an impromptu press conference at his alma mater, Louisiana Tech, and he mentioned that Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger "ain't that good."

"I never understood why players would wanna go and stack up," Bradshaw said, according to CBS Austin's Bob Ballou. "Like, Texas. We open up with Texas this year, and one year, they signed three [five-star] quarterbacks. Two are now gone, and one that's playing, you know, he ain't that good.

"And I'm like, 'Really? [Five-star]?' You watch 'em throw the football and you go, man, alive, [it's] like they go there and they can't throw the football. I'll take our boys any day."

Bradshaw attended LA Tech from 1966-69. The four-time Super Bowl champion then spent his entire NFL career as the starting signal-caller for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Louisiana Tech Hall of Fame. 

Louisiana Tech is set to begin its 2019 football season against Texas on Aug. 31 in Austin, Texas.

Ehlinger threw for 3,292 yards, 25 touchdowns and five interceptions on a 64.7 completion percentage as a sophomore last season. He also ran for 482 yards and 16 more scores.

The 20-year-old will presumably have a little motivation for the start of his junior campaign.