On Texas Football: Ranking the Big 12’s best teams by offensive positions
On the latest video episode On Texas Football’s Saturday Conversations with Paul, Inside Texas’ Bobby Burton and Paul Wadlington debate the top players by offensive position group in the Big 12 Conference in an extensive and comprehensive breakdown.
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The duo ranked the strengths of the Big 12 teams’ respective rooms and dropped some surprises – including that Kansas has the second or third best collection of skilled players in the league.
“It’s not that you have an all-conference guy and the next guy doesn’t,” Burton explained. “Sometimes there are two or three guys in a single position that are all in kind of that first top edge and then you step down a rung and another rung and you just want your guys to be on the top end of that edge.”
Wadlington also added a caveat. “I think it’s probably important to say that this is not an NFL draft board,” he said. “This is college efficacy. So think in that vein.”
Wadlington projects Kansas’ Jalen Daniels, Kansas State’s Will Howard and Oklahoma’s Dylan Gabriel as the top three quarterbacks in the league, followed by Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Texas Tech’s Tyler Slough.
“As for Texas, we love the room. Quinn Ewers though, if we’re just being honest, is not as proven as some of the other assets in the Big 12,” Wadlington opined. “If you are looking at known assets, Gabriel is ranked above Ewers. If you are looking at potential, Ewers would be in front of Gabriel.”
Wadlington ranked Kansas State’s running back room (with D.J. Giddens and Treshaun Ward) as the best in the Big 12, with Baylor (Richard Reese and Dominic Richardson) second and Kansas (Devin Neal) third.
Both experts agree that Texas has the top accumulation of wide receivers in the league, led by unanimous preseason All-Big 12 pick Xavier Worthy as well as Jordan Whittington, AD Mitchell and Isaiah Nayor.
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“I love this Texas wide receiver room – I love the upgrades and the upside,” Wadlington said. “It’s top-five nationally. I’m not gonna say that they’re Ohio State good. I need to see that. But man the upside is huge. The upside in the Texas wide receiver room is redonkulous.”
Kansas ranks second in the receivers category with Quinten Skinner and Luke Grimm being the standouts. Then there’s Texas Tech.
“Texas Tech’s Jerand Bradley and Myles Price lead a group of six players that the Red Raiders will employ in a hockey-line shift mentality to wear down teams,” Wadlngton said.
The duo’s tight end rankings have Texas on top, mostly because of standout JaTavion Sanders, followed by Kansas State (Ben Sinnott) and Kansas (Mason Fairchild).
On the offensive line, Wadlington lists Kansas State and Texas (both of whom returns all five starters from last year, at Nos. 1 and 2.
There’s plenty more to glean from the video so you owe it to yourself to go watch it in its entirety.
