Will Steve Sarkisian expand his NFL-esque wide receiver rotation?

With the portal additions of Isaiah Bond, Matthew Golden, and Silas Bolden, the return of second-year players Johntay Cook and DeAndre Moore Jr., and the spring surge of freshman Ryan Wingo, one of the questions facing the 2024 Longhorn offense is whether Steve Sarkisian and Chris Jackson will continue to keep the Texas wide receiver rotation tight during the program’s first season in the SEC.

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If there’s anything to be gleaned from Sarkisian’s last six full years as a college play-caller — his only full season at USC, two seasons as offensive coordinator at Alabama, and three years as head coach of the Longhorns — it’s that Sarkisian’s wideout rotation can vary in size. But even at its peak in talent, like in 2019 when he had four first-rounders plus a second rounder in his receiver corps or in 2023 when three future NFL players were on the Longhorns, Sarkisian’s snap distribution mimics that of a professional team.

NFL teams typically dress about six wide receivers for a given contest, but three earn the lion’s share of the snaps. WR4 gets in on occasion and WR5 and WR6 rarely see the field. That, of course, is the result of the NFL being a salary cap league. College football isn’t that (yet) and teams can accumulate as much talent as possible via recruiting. One team’s WR4 could be another’s WR1, something that will matter later. But first…

Pro Football Focus has snap count data from Sarkisian’s last six seasons as a play-caller. Each team’s quarterback and top five wide receivers in order of snap count are listed below.

Of note: Snaps means occasions where the receivers ran routes as part of a pass play

Sarkisian has obviously worked with a lot of great wide receivers in his time, headlined by his efforts guiding DeVonta Smith to the Heisman Trophy in 2020. He ensures those talented wide receivers see the field consistently.

But if there aren’t wideouts he views as being deserving of extended playing time, especially at the expense of getting the ball to potent tight ends or running backs, then he won’t play them for playing time’s sake. The 2014 Trojans, the 2021 Longhorns, and even the 2022 Texas team fits this mold (2020 Alabama is unique due to a serious injury to Jaylen Waddle, but there were running back talents like Najee Harris and strong tight ends like Miller Forristall available for Sarkisian to utilize).

Even when Sarkisian has the most talented collection of wideouts, his usage of them mirrors that of an NFL team.

The 2019 Alabama offense was loaded. The Crimson Tide only suffered defeats because they were outscored by the LSU Tigers and Auburn Tigers in contests where the point totals were 87 and 93, respectively. Not only was Smith within that receiver corps, but so too was Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, and Jaylen Waddle.

With four premium players in that group, Sarkisian ensured they were mainstays on the field even with typical Alabama talent at tight end. However, Waddle’s snaps were comparatively limited behind the third-place Ruggs. Smith, Jeudy, and Ruggs all tallied over 300 snaps. Waddle, though just as talented, was on the field for only 188.

At peak efficiency and probably with the most talented group of pass-catchers ever assembled into one room, Sarkisian still had a tight rotation that emphasized the three players and rotated in a fourth at his discretion. Future second-rounder John Metchie, who tallied 2000 yards over the next two seasons, only saw the field for 55 snaps.

How about Texas? The closest situation in Austin to Alabama in 2019 was this past season’s team (and no, that’s not to say the WR talent level on the 2023 Longhorns eclipsed that of 2019 Bama).

The 2023 wide receiver rotation looked more like the NFL-esque one Sarkisian deployed in 2019. Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell rarely left the field. Similar applied to Jordan Whittington, who only departed when the Longhorns put two tight ends on the field. That’s in contrast to 2021, when there was only one wide receiver in Worthy that Sarkisian knew couldn’t leave the field, and 2022, when the run game called for two tight ends to support Robinson and Johnson’s efforts.

Five-star freshman Johntay Cook was fourth in snaps among receivers, but was on the field for three pass plays per game last year. Likely to be a difference-maker this season, who among Mitchell, Worthy, or Whittington was Sarkisian going to take off the field last year to give Cook snaps? Cook’s 41 snaps on pass plays are a tremendous illustration of the rotation Sarkisian likes to keep.

What does that mean for 2024 now that Texas’ top trio is off to the NFL? As mentioned earlier, Cook plus Bond and Golden are a formidable threesome. In addition, Moore Jr. and Wingo have put together strong springs in their search for opportunity, and transfers like Bolden (who arrives in the summer) seek playing time at their new programs.

Six receivers are serious contenders for playing time. Will Sarkisian expand his rotation for those six players?

He could, especially in the age of the transfer portal with little to no restrictions on player movement. Texas has just 10 scholarship wide receivers on the roster for the 2024 season and only nine are currently on campus until Bolden arrives. That’s about where Sarkisian likes his WR room to be numbers wise, but any thinner and less experienced and it could cause problems for Texas.

If he does so, it’ll be a deviation from what he’s done recently in his career. A rotation of four appears to be his norm.

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In any case, the Longhorns have nine more spring practices, the Orange-White game, and all of preseason camp to see whether the NFL mimicry will remain the status quo.