Buechele, Ehlinger overlap opinions on multiple topics

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AUSTIN — The two Longhorns who split time under center in 2017, junior Shane Buechele and sophomore Sam Ehlinger, once again are competing against each other for the starting quarterback role.

Their styles of play are different, but many of the answers the two provided Tuesday had a lot of similarities. There’s more comfort for each in their second season in Tom Herman’s offense. The familiarity of an extra season in the same playbook benefits all, but it might benefit the quarterbacks most.

This, and several other topics were presented to the two after practice Tuesday.

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Last season, Texas lost its first string tight end before the first game against Maryland took place. Down Andrew Beck, Garrett Gray was thrust into the role before quickly being replaced by true freshman Cade Brewer after a poor performance.

Now, not only is Beck back in 2018 but Brewer has added muscle to his frame despite rehabilitating a knee ligament tear in the most recent offseason. In addition, Reese Leitao and Rob Cummins are both coming off of redshirt years and ready to contribute.

When asked about how important the position is to this offense, Ehlinger and Buechele spoke about how important that entire position room is to the offense, and how important one of those in the room is off the field

Ehlinger: “It’s been huge. The senior leadership that we get from Andrew has been incredible. He’s a great role model for the younger tight ends as well as everybody else. Having that figure take over that room and set the standard for what it should be on every play, him being there has been really great. The guys in my class, Reese, Cade, Max, all of them, they got a lot bigger because coach (Yancy) McKnight is so great. They’re not having to run into 280 pound dudes when they’re weighing 200 pounds. They’ve gotten a lot bigger, and they’ve been huge in advancing the offense. Now that they understand what they need to do on each play and how vital their role is, I think they’ve been doing an excellent job.”

Buechele: “It’s been nice having Beck, Cade, and Reese, and even (Rob) Cummins has stepped up as a tight end. Having those guys, it helps our pass game and it helps our run game. Tight end is a big position in our offense. It’s been nice having those guys healthy.”

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Both are entering Year 2 in the same offensive system, something that hasn’t happened at Texas since Bryan Harsin was offensive coordinator.

Ehlinger: “I think year two you understand who you are and you understand what you’re trying to do offensively. At that point, you can be a quarterback and attack the defense and understand where you’re trying to hurt them and what hurts the defenses as opposed to just trying to figure yourself out.”

Buechele: “I think it’s a huge benefit. Having another year and not learning a new system is unbelievable. I can’t say how much it’s helped whenever we do install, instead of learning new plays we know them and we can just add onto them. It’s helped a lot being in year two of this offense.”

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Playing against Todd Orlando’s defense is no easy task, as much of the Big 12 learned last season.

Playing against that defense every day is a task no one but the Texas quarterbacks must face.

Ehlinger: “Our defense is very, very, very good at causing turnovers playing Star Wars defense and coming at you from every angle. The biggest thing that we have to get through to the team right now is overall ball security. I think that we’ve been doing a good job of that. It’s continuing to get better. That’s something that we’ll preach every day.”

Buechele: “Our defense is good, and it makes our offense better. That’s what you want. You don’t want a bad defense that doesn’t make your offense any better. It’s good going against our defense every day with Coach Orlando calling whatever he wants in different scenarios. It’s good to see.”

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Each received questions about the running backs, but there was only one rusher who was spoken about for an extended amount of time by both, freshman Keaontay Ingram

Ehlinger: “I love him already. He’s a great kid. He’s a guy that has the football smarts. He has really good wiggle as well. He’s a really shifty guy. He understand where we’re trying to run the ball and what’s going to be open depending on what happens with defenses. I think it’s something that he has in a knack for football and understanding the flow of where the play is going to go.”

Buechele: “He’s just dynamic. He’s really fast. He makes moves. He’s a good back. Pass pro, he’s been good. Now he just needs to dive into his playbook, dive into the film room, and just continue to add to his brain.”

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Finally, both spoke about what they learned from the scrimmage from the previous weekend.

Here, the two gave unique answers:

Ehlinger: “I saw an offense that responded. I believe that there were some things in the scrimmage that we could have just kind of put our head down and said ‘oh shoot, we have no chance of winning this thing.’ We actually played better in the second half of the scrimmage. It was really good to see our offense kind of have an identity of ‘hey, we take it one play at a time as opposed to letting the past influence what happens in the future.’”

Buechele: “I think just never too high, never too low is a good saying for us. Just keep going. When things are going good, just keep it going. When things are going bad, it’s the next play. That’s football as well and that’s everything you do. It’s just important for us to go to the next play no matter what’s going on.”