Power ranking the SEC in 2025 preseason: #5 - Texas
Is this a big ole sip of haterade? Quite possibly. But mark me down as a doubter for this year's Texas team.
Whatever hype there is around Arch Manning, you can't quite get around the fact that he was sitting behind a seventh-round quarterback selection last year and couldn't break through. This is especially remarkable given that he had as good of a chance to do so as you could hope, starting two games while Ewers was injured!
Frankly, he looked pedestrian against ULM and Mississippi State as an all-around passer. His ceiling was on display with some of the arm strength, but one needs look no further than 2021 Zach Calzada to know that a big arm does not a quarterback make.
Combine a new quarterback with the top three receivers all exiting, as well as four of five offensive linemen out the door, and an already-underachieving offensive unit could sink further into the doldrums we saw dot the previous season. Texas is fewer than ten spots from the bottom on the returning production rankings for offense, which— no matter which way you slice it— does not bode well for that unit.
The defense could once again be excellent, despite losing a lot on the interior of the defensive line. Texas went big in the portal to replace that production, of course, so they're leaning on that for the upcoming year. The linebacking corps and pass rush should again be great, but there are a few questions about the pass defense— I'm not sure you lose Mukuba and Barron and then expect to take a step forward.