Key players from every team remaining on the Texas Longhorns' schedule

Texas is two-thirds of the way through the season and is 7-1 thus far. The Longhorns are still in control of their playoff destiny and in a similar position when compared to last year.

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Steve Sarkisian‘s bunch has a challenging slate to end the season, with Florida after the bye, a trip to Arkansas, then Kentucky, and then finally the rivalry game against Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Let’s take a look at some of the key players Texas will face down the stretch.

Coming off the bye, Texas will host Florida on November 9. Florida will be coming off a game against Georgia where the Gators are heavy underdogs. Assuming things follow the script, Florida should be pretty beat up coming into Austin. While they’re 4-3 now and look to have some life, they’ve racked up wins against low level SEC teams.

All that said, the Gators are a decently talented team. On offense, Florida’s key player is freshman five-star and Texas native DJ Lagway, who has drawn comparisons to Cam Newton and even Sam Ehlinger from Inside Texas’ own Eric Nahlin. Lagway is streaky as you’d expect from an inexperienced freshman, but he provides a dual threat ability that could give Texas problems similar to Diego Pavia.

Lagway has 96 yards rushing, but that low number is mostly due to limited usage and sacks. He has just one game with 10 or more carries, and it was in Florida’s recent win over Kentucky. Through the air, he has 1,024 yards and five touchdowns to go with five interceptions on 63% passing. He likes the deep ball and Florida has weapons with Elijhah Badger and Eugene Wilson III who have multiple touchdowns and a few hundred yards, respectively.

On defense they have some athletes up front, but the key player is Tyreak Sapp who has 24 tackles, 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble. This is a game-disrupter of a defensive lineman who in the first half of the season probably wouldn’t have given Texas’ fans much stress but after the Longhorns gave up 11 sacks in the last 2 games, Sapp is a guy to keep an eye on.

After Florida at home, Texas has to head on the road to Fayetteville. The Hogs are a volatile team who have been hot and cold much like their quarterback Taylen Green, but on any given Saturday Sam Pittman‘s crew can put up a fight. Green is without a doubt the key player on offense for the Razorbacks, he’s 6-foot-5 and can turn on the jets. Plus, he’s a Texas native who has a gunslinger mentality. To this point Green has 2,451 total yards and 16 total touchdowns. He’s dynamic to say the least, but also streaky. Green has completed just 61% of his passes.

On defense the key player is their 6-foot-7 280-pound specimen of an EDGE Landon Jackson, who has 30 tackles and 3.5 sacks. He played a great game against Tennessee, and is the guy to watch on that Arkansas front. A sure-fire NFL draft pick, Jackson could create problems for the Longhorns if Texas doesn’t clean up play in the pocket.

After the visit to Fayetteville, Texas will head home to face a struggling Kentucky Wildcats team that looks to be spiraling, but still has weapons on offense and NFL athletes on defense. Dane Key is the key player (no pun intended) on the offense for the ‘Cats. Key is a lanky outside receiver at 6-foot-3 who has 587 yards and two touchdowns on the season. He’s an athletic deep threat who was critical in the upset over Ole Miss, a game where he had eight receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown grab. Key along with Barion Brown are gifted athletes who can break one at any moment, but with a struggling passing game the Texas secondary should be able to strangle them.

On defense there are a few threats up front in the pass rush but the key player on defense is the big guy in the middle, Deone Walker. A lock to be a first-round pick in this spring’s draft, Walker has 29 tackles and 1.5 sacks but where he makes the biggest impact is as a run stopper. Against a mediocre Texas rushing attack with no breakout back up to this point, he could stall Texas on the ground.

Finally to round out the season, it’s the return of Lone Star Showdown. Texas is heading back to Kyle Field, where the Longhorn football program has to make back-to-back trips to College Station for the first time in the rivalry’s history. On offense for the Aggies the key player is the current man of the hour after Texas A&M’s huge win at home against LSU in Marcel Reed. Reed is a dynamic QB that brings life to the A&M offense. Reed in limited action has 943 total yards and 11 total touchdowns with zero interceptions. Trey Moore will be crucial in limiting this dual-threat attack, and look for a similar game plan that was deployed against Pavia.

Lastly, it’s the Aggies’ strong suit. On defense the key player to watch for is Nic Scourton, a highly-touted transfer from Purdue who had 10 sacks last season and is living up to the hype thus far with 23 total tackles and five sacks. The fear for Texas is with a night game at a raucous Kyle Field and an offense continuing to struggle with communication and penalties, the situation sets up well for Scourton.

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This will be the toughest test for the offensive line since Georgia. Texas’ hope by then is that the unit will be playing with more cohesiveness. Quinn Ewers will have to be hyper-aware in the pocket and move around with fluidity. Texas cannot afford another performance up front like they’ve had the past couple weeks or they will lose the first game of the renewed rivalry with a lot of credit likely due to Scourton.