{"id":131959,"date":"2025-08-09T14:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131959\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T14:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:49:11","slug":"can-arch-manning-jack-endries-help-texas-football-improve-in-red-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131959\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Arch Manning, Jack Endries help Texas football improve in red zone"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year ago,\u00a0Texas football <\/a>watched its national championship dreams die in the red zone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A second-down pitch to Quintrevion Wisner<\/a> from inside the Ohio State 2-yard line achieved about as much good as a singular ice cube placed atop an erupting volcano. The resulting loss of 7 yards forced the Longhorns to the passing game, where they were met with comparable levels of disaster.<\/p>\n

Quinn Ewers tossed an\u00a0uncatchable third-down pass in the direction of Ryan Wingo, then fumbled on fourth down. Ohio State\u2019s Jack Sawyer picked the ball up and sprinted 83 yards in the opposite direction, putting the Buckeyes up 28-14 with 2:13 left. By that scoreline, the Longhorns fell in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The method by which the Buckeyes delivered the finishing blow underlined one of the key differences between Texas and the eventual national champions. Ohio State turned about 76% of its red-zone entries into touchdowns. The Longhorns managed about a 64% red-zone touchdown rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Tight<\/p>\n

Tight end Jack Endries (88) runs a drill during a Texas Football practice at the Frank Denius Fields in Austin, July 30, 2025.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins, Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

If that sounds trivial, consider this: Texas reached the red zone \u2014 the area inside the opposition\u2019s 20-yard line \u2014 seven more times than the Buckeyes last season. Ohio State finished the year with six more points from red-zone entries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two years, we’ve had the ball inside the 10-yard line to score to either play for a national championship or tie a game to go play for a national title,\u201d Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said at SEC media days last month. \u201cHuge point of emphasis of ours. Every year, as a staff, you look for areas of improvement. As a coaching staff, that’s clearly been an area for us where we want to improve and need to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

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MORE:<\/strong> This stat will decide if Texas football sustains defensive dominance<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas did improve its red zone output last season. Its touchdown rate improved by nearly 13 percentage points from the disastrous 50.8% mark the Longhorns posted in 2023 that placed them among the worst red-zone performers in the country. But they didn\u2019t gain enough ground to finish the season on a trophy stand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the implementation of the College Football Playoff in 2014, national champions have scored touchdowns on roughly 70.7% of their red-zone entries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only time Texas has even come close to that threshold under Sarkisian was in 2021, when a bottom-third defense ensured the Longhorns didn\u2019t play in a bowl game, much less a national championship game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Now, as Texas embarks on a 2025 season with national title expectations, does it have the weapons to make the required improvements?<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas tight end Gunnar Helm (85) fights for yardage against Baylor safety Devin Lemear (20) in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Waco, Texas.<\/p>\n

Ricardo B. Brazziell\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Tight end Gunnar Helm led the Longhorns with 14 red-zone targets a season ago. He\u2019s moved on to the NFL. So has Matthew Golden, who was targeted 12 times in the red zone. In the passing game, 58% of Texas\u2019 red-zone targets are no longer on the roster. Jaydon Blue and his team-leading eight rushing touchdowns moved on, too. So did Ewers and four of the five offensive linemen who blocked for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Texas football defense outplaying offense at camp. Here’s what it means<\/a><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not quite a fully-fledged refresh, but it\u2019s a significant one. Texas has a chance to start anew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In sequences quarterbacked by Arch Manning, who will lead UT\u2019s offense this year, the Longhorns scored touchdowns on 88.2% of their red-zone entries last year. Of course, most of those reps came against UTSA, Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State \u2014 downright cuddly opposition compared to the fierce Ohio State defense Ewers had to face down at the season\u2019s critical juncture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manning will be throwing to a pair of physical receivers in DeAndre Moore Jr. (6-foot, 192) and Ryan Wingo (6-foot-2, 214). Stanford transfer Emmett Mosley V (6-2, 210) caught six touchdown passes a year ago. The 6-foot-4 Parker Livingstone, the subject of effusive praise this offseason, looks like an intriguing red-zone target too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But what about the tight end spot?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Helm filled \u00a0\u2014 and excelled in \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 the traditional role of the tight end in the red-zone offense, catching seven touchdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian runs across the field with the quarterbacks during a Texas Football practice at the Frank Denius Fields in Austin, July 30, 2025.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins, Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate, obviously, in the last couple of years with (Ja\u2019Tavion Sanders) and then Gunnar and their impact in the red area for us,\u201d Sarkisian said Tuesday. \u201cI think it\u2019s always nice to have a quality tight end in the red area or two. They\u2019re a little bigger body, little bigger frame. They can box people out to make catches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many times did we see Gunnar make catches above DBs where there\u2019s not much a DB can do about that?\u201d<\/p>\n

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The ready-made replacement, Jack Endries from Cal, has collected 1,030 receiving yards over the last two seasons, which is more than any other returning power conference tight end. But his red-zone usage hasn\u2019t matched that of Helm. The Golden Bears targeted Endries in the red area seven times in 13 games last year, resulting in one red-zone touchdown. Sarkisian said Texas didn\u2019t pursue Endries in the portal because of his ability in the red zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted a guy who had real experience, who had played football at a high level,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cA bonus to that was his ability to help us in the red area.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Endries isn\u2019t the one to carry the load, others must step forward. In the backfield, the Longhorns return CJ Baxter, who missed last season with a knee injury. At 6-foot-1, 227 pounds, he\u2019s got at least 21 pounds on any of the running backs that were available to the Longhorns a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cHopefully we’re good,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cLike I said, we need to be at our best when our best is needed, and those are two critical moments the last two years where we needed our best and we just weren’t quite at our best as coaches and as players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reach Texas Insider David Eckert via email at david.eckert@statesman.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A year ago,\u00a0Texas football watched its national championship dreams die in the red zone.\u00a0 A second-down pitch to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[80089,46734,1428,8485,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,71282,9662,20815,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-131959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-austinlatest","9":"tag-cfp","10":"tag-college-football","11":"tag-college-football-hall-of-fame","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-football","15":"tag-ncaafootball","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-steve-sarkisian","18":"tag-texas-longhorns","19":"tag-texas-longhorns-football","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114999366170930833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}