Texas Football: Sam Ehlinger Makes Pro Football Focus List of Top Returning Quarterbacks

Texas fooball quarterback Sam Ehlinger is drawing offseason hype for 2020 following a dominating peformance in the Longhorns' 38-10 victory over Utah in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Ehlinger ranked as the No. 6 returning quarterback for the upcoming season according to Pro Football Focus. He is the first quarterback from the Big 12 on the list, just ahead of Iowa State's Brock Purdy (No. 7).

Interestingly, North Carolina's Sam Howell comes in ahead of Ehlinger. The Tar Heels are of interest to Texas fans because of Longhorn legend Mack Brown's involvement as the program's head coach.

Tanner Morgan (Minnesota), Jamie Newman (formerly of Wake Forest, currently in the transfer portal), Justin Fields (Ohio State) and Trevor Lawrence (Clemson) round out the list.

"I do think he’s got a tremendous future at the next level," Texas head coach Tom Herman said in a press conference the day before the Longhorns' 38-10 victory over Utah in the Valero Alamo Bowl. "Again, I’ll say it as many times as I need to: he sees the game as good as any I’ve coached. Having coached some really good quarterbacks in my day, that’s certainly no slight on them, it’s a testimony to him and his intelligence, his toughness. That’s going to go a long way at the next level."

Ehlinger himself seemed excited about the prospect of the offense running on all cylinders in the future.

"I’m very optimistic about the guys coming back," Ehlinger said. "There’s a lot of young guys that have a lot of experience and are really, really good football players, so I’m very optimistic."