DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 08: Texas Longhorns fans celebrate and sing the fight song after winning the game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns on October 8, 2022 at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Two weeks after Texas returned home from the Sugar Bowl, the Longhorns have turned the page to 2024.
Newcomers moved in over the weekend, and classes began Tuesday for the spring semester, meaning winter workouts are underway. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is looking to build on the Longhorns’ most successful season in more than a decade: a 12-2 finish and the program’s first appearance in the College Football Playoff.
SEC play begins in September, and the Longhorns’ roster will look a bit different when the season kicks off on Aug. 31 against Colorado State. Here are some thoughts on the recent developments and how the team looks now.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers’ decision to play another season of college football is good for all parties. Ewers has NFL tools, but scouts still want to see more. If Ewers had declared for the 2024 draft, scouts projected him as a Day 2 pick, according to Dane Brugler, The Athletic’s NFL Draft analyst. He could certainly benefit from another year of development in Sarkisian’s offense.
In 2023, Ewers improved in most statistical categories over his 2022 showing, including completion percentage (up to 69 percent in 2023 from 58.1 in 2022), yards per attempt (8.8, up from 7.4) and passing efficiency (158.5, up from 132.5). Ewers also took a step forward in deep ball accuracy, a recurring issue in 2022, though there’s still room for growth.
