{"id":49332,"date":"2023-08-13T17:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T21:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=49332"},"modified":"2025-09-13T15:54:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:54:52","slug":"five-texas-longhorns-ready-for-breakout-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/08\/13\/five-texas-longhorns-ready-for-breakout-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Texas Longhorns Ready for Breakout Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a different vibe in Austin this Summer.\u00a0 There\u2019s a new demeanor to the 2023 Texas Longhorns, and there\u2019s nothing subtle about it.\u00a0 \u201cYou can see it, it ain\u2019t no feeling,\u201d tight end Ja\u2019Tavion Sanders<\/strong> said.\u00a0 \u201cEven the young guys, they\u2019re doing it without older guys telling them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staying late at the fieldhouse.\u00a0 Extra time in a film session.\u00a0 Putting in the extra hours. It signals a new shift for Texas.\u00a0 It was a busy first week of Fall practice for the Longhorns.\u00a0 They opened workouts with the goal of winning a Big 12 Championship squarely in their sights.<\/p>\n

Nobody knows how the Big 12 season<\/a> will play out, other than Texas and Oklahoma bidding farewell to the conference at the end of the season.\u00a0 Every team in the Big 12 will be gunning for the Longhorns and Sooners to make sure neither team walks away with a trophy on their way out the door.<\/p>\n

The Texas program has been buzzing with excitement all through the off-season.\u00a0 The Spring game went well, the transfer portal was kind to the Longhorns, and injured players returned to the team throughout the summer.\u00a0 As the long, hot summer comes to an end, here are five Texas Longhorns ready for a breakout year in 2023.<\/p>\n

5. Anthony Hill; Linebacker<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The freshman class has made an impact from the start.\u00a0 Early enrollees like linebacker Anthony Hill<\/strong> have given every indication that the hype is real.\u00a0 \u201cThat young man is a great kid and an even better football player,\u201d Sanders said of Hill.\u00a0 \u201cWhen he gets his chance, I want him to show the world what he can do.\u201d Sanders and Hill were teammates together at Texas powerhouse Denton Ryan.<\/p>\n

Hill does things that inspire people to bring up players like Derrick Johnson<\/strong>.\u00a0 Keeping in mind that he hasn\u2019t played a game yet at the college level, there\u2019s a lot to like about what he\u2019s shown so far.\u00a0 He played well in the spring game, while teammates and coaches have raved consistently about his athletic ability as well as his attitude all summer.\u00a0 Hill seems primed for at least some playing time in a crowded linebacking corps this season.<\/p>\n

4. Quinn Ewers; Quarterback<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Texas fans have watched the evolution of quarterback Quinn Ewers<\/a>.\u00a0 The sophomore is firmly entrenched as the starter.\u00a0 His backup is Maalik Murphy<\/strong>, who showed during the spring game he\u2019s ready to play when his number is called.<\/p>\n

Ewers spent a productive off-season around campus while getting a haircut, (the mullet is gone), and shave, and the new-look Ewers is the same as the old one.\u00a0 He worked on getting better and the Longhorns believe they have an upgraded version of the player who threw for 2,155 yards and 15 touchdowns during an 8-5 campaign in 2022.<\/p>\n

3. Barryn Sorrell; Edge<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A culture of healthy competition has taken hold in Austin, as Sanders put it.\u00a0 All through summer workouts and now into fall camp, the Longhorns have been looking forward to this moment.\u00a0 \u201cWe literally have all the tools to the puzzle,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait to put it on the board, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorrell<\/a> is ready for his breakout season.\u00a0 He started 10 games as a sophomore last season and was named to the honorable mention All-Big 12 team.\u00a0 As fall practice got underway, he set his goal for 10 sacks this season, after registering 5.5 last year.\u00a0 \u201cJust coming off a year with a lot of playing time, obviously I have that experience,\u201d Sorrell said.<\/p>\n

2. Ethan Burke; Edge<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s easy for even the most highly-rated players to get lost in the shuffle at Texas. Every year brings another top-flight recruiting class.<\/p>\n

Burke<\/a> wasn\u2019t going to get lost in the shuffle.\u00a0 He played well enough last year as a freshman to see action in 11 games.\u00a0 Now that the sophomore has filled out to 257 pounds on his 6-6 frame, expect his production to go up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like Ethan has everything that he needs and he definitely has what it takes,\u201d Sorrell said.<\/p>\n

1. Jaylan Ford; Linebacker<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ford<\/a> was named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list just as fall camp was getting started.\u00a0 A fitting way for Ford to start his senior season.\u00a0 He had already been tabbed as the Preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Ford had 119 tackles last season.\u00a0 He\u2019s taken over as the face of the defense for the departed DeMarvion Overshown<\/strong>.\u00a0 The scary thing is, he could be even better in 2023.\u00a0 The Texas Longhorns are looking for improved defensive line play in 2023, leaving Ford more freedom to roam.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a different vibe in Austin this Summer.\u00a0 There\u2019s a new demeanor to the 2023 Texas Longhorns, and there\u2019s nothing subtle about it.\u00a0 \u201cYou can see it, it ain\u2019t no feeling,\u201d tight end Ja\u2019Tavion Sanders said.\u00a0 \u201cEven the young guys, they\u2019re doing it without older guys telling them.\u201d Staying late at the fieldhouse.\u00a0 Extra time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4486,"featured_media":49442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,35576],"tags":[10375,4780,10376,9871,9960,204],"class_list":["post-49332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-big12","category-texas-longhorns","tag-anthony-hill","tag-big-12-football","tag-derrick-johnson","tag-jaylan-ford","tag-maalik-murphy","tag-texas-longhorns"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4486"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79479,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49332\/revisions\/79479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}