Texas football season grades: Report card for Quinn Ewers, Steve Sarkisian, every position

Posted by Admin January 17, 2025 Football

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The Texas football team played its longest season yet in 2024-25 and ended one win short of a chance at a national title.

Texas (13-3) reached the College Football Playoff semifinals before falling to Ohio State 28-14 last Friday in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.

Although the Longhorns’ run ended in the same round of the CFP for a second consecutive season under head coach Steve Sarkisian, the team used a different method to achieve the same results: While the 2023 squad leaned on a dynamic offense, this year’s had a definite defensive identity. In the first year of the expanded, 12-team playoff, Texas earned a home game and beat Clemson and then Arizona State to make college football’s final four.

Here’s how the 2024 Longhorns graded out for the season, based on weekly grades and how the team fared against its toughest competition:

Quarterbacks: B

Quinn Ewers will leave behind a complicated legacy after his third season as a starter, and an up-and-down 2024 campaign seemed to typify his career. He had moments of brilliance while becoming just the third Texas quarterback to throw for at least 30 touchdowns in a single season, and his 3,472 yards rank sixth on the school’s single-season all-time list. But he threw 12 interceptions — double his previous career high — and lost five of his seven fumbles. He had at least one turnover in the final six games and six turnovers in the postseason. Meanwhile, Arch Manning showed he might be worthy of all the hype in his two starts and some mop-up duty with 969 yards and nine touchdowns on 66.3% passing with two interceptions to go along with 115 yards and four rushing touchdowns.

MORE: Texas fans should give Quinn Ewers a huge thank-you for all he’s done | Golden

Running backs: B

Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue filled in admirably after starter CJ Baxter went down with a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. Wisner and Blue each had more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage and combined for 20 touchdowns. However, they have similar skill sets while excelling in space, which limited Texas’ ground game between the tackles, especially in the postseason. The team felt the absence of the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Baxter while running for less than 60 yards in the SEC title game against Georgia and in CFP games against Arizona State and Ohio State.

Receivers: C+

Two of the season’s most pleasant surprises salvaged a disappointing year from the receiving corps. Senior tight end Gunnar Helm rewrote the school’s record books for his position by grabbing 60 passes for 786 yards and seven touchdowns while Houston transfer Matthew Golden emerged as the group’s most reliable wideout with 58 catches for 987 yards and nine touchdowns. But the unit had little depth. Starter DeAndre Moore Jr. played hard but had only 39 catches, and heralded Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond tallied just 34 grabs for 540 yards in an injury-plagued season. Five-star freshman Ryan Wingo averaged 16.3 yards a catch, but finished with just 29 catches, and Oregon State transfer Silas Bolden had limited impact with 23 catches. No other receiver or tight end reached double figures in receptions, and the unit endured too many drops aside from Golden and Helm.

Offensive linemen: B-

Yes, a veteran bunch anchored by All-American left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. and center Jake Majors was one of three finalists for the Joe Moore Award that honors the nation’s best offensive line. But the production didn’t match the reputation, especially since the group stayed healthy until late in the season when swing tackle Trevor Goosby started one game at left tackle and another at right tackle. Texas gave up 37 sacks, 118th-worst in the nation, and was inconsistent against elite defensive fronts in the running game, amassing a combined 118 yards on the ground in three total games against Georgia and Ohio State. But the Longhorns did average 437.5 total yards, 21st in the nation. And they were 29th in scoring (33 points per game), not shabby for an SEC team.

Defensive linemen: B+

Take away a slow start to the season with the pass rush, and this group would have earned an A. The Longhorns managed seven sacks through the first four games but then averaged 3.3 a game for the rest of the season behind freshman All-American Colin Simmons, who had a team-high nine sacks and 14 tackles for loss. Edge rushers Barryn Sorrell and Trey Moore were solid if not spectacular and excelled against the run. Fifth-year senior Alfred Collins enjoyed a breakout season inside while raising his draft stock with 55 tackles and 5½ sacks. Fellow tackle Vernon Broughton got pushed around some inside but showed a nose for the ball with 4½ sacks and three fumble recoveries. The interior didn’t have the depth of years past, but one-year transfers Bill Norton and Jermayne Lole provided quality snaps.

Linebackers: B+

Sophomore Anthony Hill Jr. solidified himself as one of the nation’s best defensive players in his first season at middle linebacker with a team-high 113 tackles, 16½ tackles for a loss, eight sacks and four forced fumbles. The rest of the unit, led by Liona Lefau and David Gbenda, played their roles well for a defense that ranked fourth in the nation with 15.3 points allowed per game and third with 283.7 yards allowed. Those numbers jumped to 430.7 yards and 27.6 points in the three CFP games, however, which indicates that the linebackers and the defense feasted against lesser foes.

Defensive backs: A-

The heralded 512 Crew of safeties Andrew Mukuba and Michael Taaffe and cornerback Jahdae Barron all grew up in the Austin area, and they led one of the nation’s best secondaries. Barron moved outside to a boundary corner after spending much of his career in the slot. He won the Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back after 67 tackles, five interceptions and 11 pass breakups. Mukuba (69 tackles, five INTs, six PBUs) and Taaffe (78 tackles, two INTs and 10 PBUs) set the defensive tone, and cornerback Malik Muhammad and slot corner Jaylon Guilbeau also had strong seasons for a group that tied for third in the nation with 1.3 interceptions a game. The only knock? As indicated above, the numbers dropped significantly when facing more accomplished quarterbacks such as Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt and Ohio State’s Will Howard, who averaged 307 passing yards against Texas in CFP games.

Special teams: C

Week in and week out, this unit caused plenty of consternation for fans. First the good news: Texas’ coverage teams were excellent, didn’t allow a return touchdown and kept opponents’ returners under wraps all season. And the Longhorns made a couple of big plays, including a Bolden punt return for a touchdown in the CFP win over Arizona State as well as two blocked field goals. But there’s plenty of bad, too. Bert Auburn, the program’s all-time leader in made field goals, regressed, making just 64% of his field-goal attempts before being benched in the CFP semifinals. The team also had two punts blocked and didn’t get a hand on an opponent’s punt. Michael Kern averaged 41.6 yards a punt, which ranked next to last in the SEC. And Bolden certainly made things interesting with every punt return.

Coaching: B

The bottom line means a spot on the honor roll for Sarkisian and his staff. In its first season in the SEC, Texas reached the conference title game and outlasted every other SEC team in the CFP. The Longhorns also won all three of their big rivalry games (if Arkansas still counts as a rival). And credit defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski for melding one of the nation’s best defenses while plugging the leaks that plagued the 2023 bunch. But Sarkisian’s play-calling in the red zone continues to be a concern; a year after ranking 120th out of 133 teams in touchdown percentage in 2023, the Longhorns improved but still ranked just 54th in 2024.

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