There are several ways to win a football game. The Texas Longhorns proved that in 2023 winning both lower scoring battles and shootouts.
What’s true of game styles can also be true of roster construction. Texas will likely have different strengths and its players will have different skillsets in 2024.
Many Texas supporters are wringing their hands over the vacancies left by departing impact defensive tackles T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy. To be clear, Texas wasn’t going to find comparable impact players at defensive tackle for the upcoming season. Having two players of that caliber is a unique luxury. The Longhorns defensive line was going to have to win elsewhere after the two players left.
It’s fully possible Alfred Collins becomes an all-SEC player at defensive tackle despite not having Murphy or Sweat opposite him. Yet while the team might lack on the interior, its edge rush should be the best its been since Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat played defensive end for Texas.
The team has four players who have compiled a five-sack season and adds five-star edge rusher Collin Simmons to the defense. UTSA transfer Trey Moore put up 14 sacks over the past season. With an edge rush as potent as Texas could have in 2024, it might simply need gap pluggers at defensive tackle. The Longhorns have that on campus.
Texas is going to win games differently on offense as well. The skill players will be different and so will be their style of play. Presently, there is no tight end as dynamic as Ja’Tavion Sanders though we like what Gunnar Helm could bring at the position. There is no big frame proven wide receiver like Adonai Mitchell on the team. There are, however, several dynamic receivers to get the football.
Houston transfer receiver Matthew Golden not only has strong speed, route running and catching ability, but has the experience to back it up. He knows how to run to open grass and put a strain on a defense.
Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond powerfully explodes out of breaks unlike any Texas receiver I have seen. Bond, Oregon State transfer Silas Bolden and former five-star Johntay Cook should take the top off defenses as they did last season. Albeit, Cook saw less opportunity despite making the most of his playing time. Perhaps none of them run routes as seamlessly as Worthy, but they should find ways to get open.
Texas is going to win games differently in 2024. It won’t have the defensive interior it had last season, but it should be better at defensive back, edge, offensive line, and quarterback with starting quarterback Quinn Ewers’ trajectory of improvement. The team will still be strong at wide receiver and linebacker.
Winning differently won’t change the column in which Texas puts its wins. The team will look to embrace a different style of play in head coach Steve Sarkisian’s fourth season in Austin.