Which Texas Football Starter Has the Most to Lose in 2026?

Every Texas Longhorns player who will be relied on at any point during the 2026 season is under immense pressure. The 2025 season was a step back from two consecutive College Football Playoff Semifinals appearances, and the money required to reel in this year's roster was astronomical. Steve Sarkisian is a lame duck if this team similarly underperforms like last year's.

The stakes are not the same for every player, though. As much as Arch Manning could be seen as the man with the most to lose, the truth is that he's had NFL draft interest since the moment he graduated from Isidore Newman School in New Orleans.

Manning's potential WR1, the man who needs to be Arch's top weapon, Cam Coleman, is really the player with the most to lose.

Cam Coleman's Two Years at Auburn Didn't Meet Expectations

Auburn ended up being a mistake for Cam Coleman | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Coleman's wasted potential with the Auburn Tigers could be its own documentary one day. Coleman, a Phenix City, Alabama, native who starred on the regional powerhouse Central Red Devils, was promised a situation at Auburn that Hugh Freeze was never in a position to deliver.

Freeze second-guessed his own major QB investments, benching Payton Thorne early in the 2024 season and benching Jackson Arnold for Ashton Daniels in the last major personnel decision he ever made for the Tigers before being fired midway through the 2025 season.

Coleman can't get those years back. Luckily, most see his issues as Auburn-related. That excuse doesn't have much time left, however. Coleman will soon have to answer the "what have you done for me lately?" questions in Austin.

If he doesn't do much, he's in trouble.

Cam Coleman Robbed Himself of Excuses With a Stellar Offseason

Cam Coleman gave more of himself to the game this offseason, but it needs to pay off somehow | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Coleman has too much talent to ever drop too far in the draft, but another unrelated Coleman, Keon Coleman, looms in the minds of NFL front offices after going in the second round and failing to translate in the pros despite having all the tools to be the next phenom out wide.

Cam's overall body of work is better through two seasons, but he has never been as much of a scoring threat as Keon. Both have otherworldly athleticism. At some point, though, concrete production needs to dictate the narrative.

Cam will be in trouble if it turns out that, even with improving his body in the offseason and connecting on many levels of understanding with Manning, he isn't that kind of guy in college games. NFL scouts won't think he'll magically get better after being drafted. Coleman's draft stock will take a corresponding hit to how disappointing he ends up being, if that's what ends up happening.

Coleman won't run out of time in that case, but he'll be forced to take a pay cut this winter for next year. There's so much to lose for Coleman if he doesn't finally fulfill his destiny of dominating downfield on 50/50 balls and becoming a surefire first-round NFL draft prospect.

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