Casey Thompson gives Texas Longhorns a glimpse of the future

With word that Sam Ehlinger couldn’t finish the game, all eyes were on Casey Thompson. He showed the Texas Longhorns what he can do.

For the better part of the last four years, the Texas Longhorns and the burnt orange faithful have known one thing. Sam Ehlinger was the starting quarterback. On Tuesday night, the fans and the staff got a glimpse of the future.

When the team emerged from the tunnel to begin the second half, it wasn’t led onto the field by Ehlinger but by his understudy Casey Thompson. He enrolled at the University of Texas in 2018 and was the main backup to the senior. When Ehlinger couldn’t go in the rest of the game with a shoulder injury, it was time for Thompson to take the field. In 2019, he threw 12 passes, none for touchdowns.

This year Thompson appeared in two games during mop-up duty. Against UTEP in the season opener, he threw two touchdown passes on seven attempts. He appeared in the Kansas State game on Dec. 5 but never threw a pass. In two seasons Thompson had thrown 19 total passes with two career touchdowns. His combined yardage total was 139. Then the second half of the Alamo Bowl got underway and the Oklahoma legacy player showed what he was capable of.

From the very first pass he attempted, Thompson showed something fans haven’t seen in a while. They saw a quarterback throw with touch and anticipation.

The redshirt sophomore quarterback side stepped a pass rusher and dropped it in Cade Brewer’s hand over the defenders and allowed him to continue running. That aspect of the offense has been missing for some time. That isn’t a knock on Ehlinger, some quarterbacks are throwers and some are passers. Thompson is more of the latter.

On his second throw of the game, Thompson put it in the end zone and gave Joshua Moore his first of two touchdown receptions in the game. It was an accurate throw on the inside that allowed Moore to haul it in.

On the next drive, Thompson found Moore again. On this pass, Casey put the ball where his guy could go up and get the ball.

He was far from done. In the fourth quarter, Thompson threw two passes. One went to freshman running back Bijan Robinson for a 23-yard catch and run. The other was an absolute bomb to another freshman, Kelvontay Dixon, who took it the rest of the way on a 73-yard shot down the middle of the field.

Thompson saw the mismatch with the linebacker and he didn’t miss on the deep shot — something the Longhorns offense hasn’t done consistently enough throughout the year. With Dixon, Robinson and Thompson the burnt orange saw what could be in the future.

The biggest takeaway from the second half is this Longhorns offense looked more like a Yurcich offense many thought we would see all season long.