In the Alamo Bowl, the night of Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger was cut short. Now the question of whether his collegiate career is also over.
The senior did not recover from the second half of Tuesday’s 55-23 game over Colorado due to a shoulder injury he sustained in the first half. Ehlinger was seen in street clothes and slingshot after rest time. Although Ehlinger did take a few bags, he had a solid first half with 160 yards passed and a tee shot.
Attention is now focused on Ehlinger’s future. Due to the NCAA’s decision to allow the fall sports athletes an extra year due to COVID-19, it is possible that Ehlinger may return to Texas in 2021. While Ehlinger took part in the senior day preliminaries before the Iowa State game in November, he never explicitly said he was going to the NFL for sure after this season. There’s a hint of unresolved issues. Texas did not have the expectations to win the Big 12, and always lost to Oklahoma. Ehlinger is also the program’s second leading career runner with 11,436 yards and 94 touchdowns. If he returns one more season, he will definitely break the records of Colt McCoy, who set the career and pass rate of the schools.
If it’s for Ehlinger, it’s a hard way to go out. He’s the best quarterback the program has had in a decade and his story as a lifelong Horns fan who grew up in the school’s backyard is well documented. It would be amazing if he came back another year. He is not selected as a high draft, but although it is a loaded quarterback class, it is unlikely that he will significantly improve his draft stock with another year at university. And based on the way redshirt sophomore Casey Thompson threw the football in the second half … well … it might just be time to move on. Thompson plays occupied and is going to pass 8-out-10 for 170 yards and four touchdowns, setting an Alamo Bowl record for most scores.
He was not only the star of the game. The freshman industry, Bijan Robinson, had 183 yards on just ten carries and scored three total tackles. Robinson was partly a late bloomer because Texas insisted he would be part of a regressive rotation for most of the year. To be honest, Roschon Johnson earned his earnings and one of the best chase ratings you will see this season against the Buffaloes. But it’s been clear for weeks now that Robinson is that guy and in his last two games he has hit six tees at 24 at 15 yards per touch. His combination of lower body strength and balance makes it difficult for him to return.
Robinson was not the only first-year to turn heads. Defensive linebacker Alfred Collins intercepted a ridiculous one-handed display of great athletics:
Texas set records for school bowlers for points (55) and yards (638) while playing largely with young players and rugby players. I’m not here to sell you in Texas as ‘back’ in 2021 – Colorado was basically half of his team – but while Ehlinger was the face of the program, the future also looks awfully bright.