Steve Sarkisian notes improvement in deep passing game, which helps the UT offense 'work the way it's supposed to work'

Around this time last year, Longhorn fans thought Quinn Ewers‘ deep touchdown pass to Isaiah Neyor was a glimpse of what was to come from the Texas offense in 2022. The deep strike was Steve Sarkisian‘s offense operating in line with his vision, with play-action fooling the secondary defenders, Neyor sprinting by them, and Ewers dropping a dime for the score.

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The occasions where the Longhorns were able to repeat that type of play during the regular season were not as frequent as Sarkisian and the entire offensive brain trust would have liked. Last year on passes of 20-or-more yards, Ewers was 16-of-52 for 412 yards with three touchdowns and two picks per Pro Football Focus.

A 7.9 yards per attempt average is normally nothing to scoff at. In the context of deep passing? That figure, plus the 31 percent completion percentage, illustrates how difficult operations often were for Texas’ big-play passing offense.

For what it’s worth, the stats from when Hudson Card was under center were better, but those opportunities were taken mostly versus UTSA, Texas Tech, and West Virginia. He was 9-for-25 for 289 yards with three touchdowns to one interception versus the No. 88, No. 82, and No. 104 defenses, respectively, according to ESPN’s SP+.

Those numbers are below where Sarkisian would like for the Longhorns to be when throwing deep. To make improvements there, deep passing has been one of the top priorities for the Texas offense during spring practices.

“Without question,” Sarkisian said Thursday. “Our offense doesn’t quite work the way it’s supposed to work if we don’t hit some of those plays. I don’t expect us to be 100 percent. Any time you throw a ball beyond 15-20 yards, the percentage is naturally going to drop. We try to create those opportunities down the field, then finding that rapport of the deep ball whether it’s a post, a go, deep crossers, whatever they are, and how it complements themselves with the run game then the intermediate passing game, is all critical to our success as an offense and then ultimately as a team.”

Sarkisian runs an offense with a blend of different offensive philosophies. He is on record saying his is a rush-first offense that features a back often enough to rack up counting stats behind a variety of run schemes. He makes use of RPOs, the latest craze in offense. He uses multiple personnel packages that alters the number of backs, tight ends, and receivers on the field, sometimes on a play-to-play basis. His passing offense doesn’t just stress an offense vertically, but horizontally as well.

The vertical stress, however, is what makes his offense special. But, it’s only special when those vertical opportunities are converted. Last year, that simply did not happen enough.

No player was the intended receiver of more deep throws last season than Xavier Worthy. According to Pro Football Focus, Worthy was targeted on a pass of 20-or-more yards 44 times. He only hauled in nine of those targets for 278 yards, but recorded touchdowns on four of those nine catches.

He became a lightning rod for frustrations with Texas’ passing offense, even while playing through a broken hand during the second half of the season. However, it wasn’t a Worthy-only problem just as it wasn’t a Ewers-only problem.

To solve one of the biggest governors on the 2022 offense for 2023, Sarkisian has made deep passing a focus during spring practices. Thus far, he’s seen positive progress in that part of the offense as a result.

“That aspect of the game, as I’ve been touching on before spring ball, is a huge point of emphasis of ours,” Sarkisian said. “I think that we’re starting to see some of the benefits of it as we’re getting into some of these live settings in the way we’re throwing the ball and the way we’re catching the ball down the field.”

Worthy should have some assistance shouldering the receiving workload on deep passes. Not only is he back and with a healthy hand, but Neyor should be back for the season after missing all of 2022 with an ACL tear. Plus, two-time national champion AD Mitchell and On3 Industry Ranking five-star Johntay Cook have joined Chris Jackson‘s wide receiver room, with Jordan Whittington and Casey Cain back from last year’s squad.

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The Ewers that played versus Alabama showing up more often than the Ewers who appeared versus Oklahoma State will help Texas’ quest for more chunk plays. But as that Alabama game showed, the backup quarterback must be able to push the ball downfield, too. Neither strong-armed Maalik Murphy nor Five-Star Plus+ freshman Arch Manning should have too much trouble hitting a deep post.

The list of names shows a collective effort is required for the improvement in the deep passing game.

So far this spring for Sarkisian, he’s liked the progress made by all involved in the signature aspect of his offense.