College Football: 5 Spring quarterback battles to watch

4. Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns’ head football coach is Tom Herman who made chicken salad out of a three quarterback rotation at Ohio State to win the 2014 National Championship. The Longhorns’ battle is between Sam Ehlinger and Shane Buechele.

Ehlinger, a sophomore, started six games for the ‘Horns in 2017 throwing for 1,915 yards and rushed for 381 to boot. Ehlinger has NFL size at 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, averaging seven yards per attempt as a freshman. He played in nine games total over the 2017 season. Enlinger is a local from nearby Westlake High School in Austin, TX.

Shane Buechele, a junior, started seven games last year. He also has 21 total appearances over the past two seasons in Austin, TX. Buechele finished with 1,405 passing yards and seven touchdowns with four interceptions last season. Buechele is a former four-star quarterback from Lamar High School in Arlington, Texas.

Tim Beck and Tom Herman love mobile quarterbacks but Herman did beat the Oregon Ducks in the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship Game with the immobile Cardale Jones.

Texas has also signed two four-star quarterbacks in Cameron Rising and Casey Thompson. Rising is 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds while Thompson is 6-foot and 190 pounds. Both will need time to acclimate behind two more veteran passers.

Prediction: Sam Ehlinger