Texas Football: New Year's Resolutions for the Longhorns

The new year officially begins the all-important third season of Charlie Strong's tenure as head coach of the Texas Longhorns.

Strong has to win now. If he didn't know it before, he should now after the mess he went through to hire new offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert.

Now he's got his spread-oriented play-caller and is about to bring his second full recruiting class aboard. He had some built-in excuses in what Mack Brown left behind—namely a lack of depth at quarterback, ineffective upperclassmen and so on.

But Strong's ability to lean on those crutches has all but run out, as he's made mistakes of his own. The Longhorns didn't give Jerrod Heard a good enough look last summer, they have lost a ton of offensive linemen to attrition and the 2016 recruiting class is currently ranked 48th in the country by 247Sports.

Still, next season needs to be a winning one that comes with proof that the program is improving. If Strong and his staff follow these New Year's resolutions, achieving that shouldn't be a problem.

Exercise Every Option at Quarterback

Despite the poor showing last season, the Texas quarterback situation is easily the best it's been in the Strong era. Now the pressure's on the coaches to find the right guy to lead the team back to a winning record.

Entering 2014, the Longhorns had only David Ash and Tyrone Swoopes on scholarship. With the former ailing, they were forced to start tight-end-turned-quarterback Miles Onyegbule in the spring game opposite Swoopes. The situation was barely better last season, as the Horns were at least able to get Swoopes and redshirt freshman Heard both into the Orange-White Scrimmage.

This spring, a lack of options will no longer be an issue with this team. With Shane Buechele enrolling in January, the Longhorns will have five scholarship quarterbacks on the roster for the entire offseason. And each deserves a look from Gilbert.

Heard and Swoopes return with starting experience. Heard will get the first nod after he provided a spark in 2015, and he'll go back to running a full-blown spread attack that suits his skill set well. It's also hard to imagine Swoopes being completely out of the mix due to the success he had in the 18-Wheeler package last season.

You also can't count out redshirt freshmen Kai Locksley and Matthew Merrick. Locksley, the son of former Maryland offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, has a deep football background and is probably the best athlete of the bunch. On the other hand, Merrick is a bit newer to the game, as noted by SB Nation's Wescott Eberts. But even he brings some desirable traits to the table.

Then we're back to Buechele, who absolutely tore up the Elite 11 last summer. Gilbert's offense calls for accuracy on intermediate throws, the ability to take deep shots and mobility from the quarterback—and Buechele checks all of those boxes. 

Redshirting is usually the best course of action for quarterbacks, but most don't get a full offseason either. It's feasible that he picks up this offense fast enough to move to the front of the pack.

The point is that Texas needs to give each of these guys a chance to show what he can do. That obviously wasn't done with Heard last offseason, and it probably cost the Horns a bowl appearance.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Continue to Embrace the Youth Movement

Texas experienced somewhat of a freshmen takeover in 2015, and even more underclassmen should take on starting roles next season.

The Longhorns started 11 different freshmen last year, including four true freshmen who ran with the first team every game they were healthy. Even more impressive from the young players, 21 of a possible 25 true freshmen saw the field last season.

SB Nation's Zane Ellis projects nine of those 21 players from the 2015 class to start next season—and that might be conservative. Tailback Chris Warren could easily be a costarter with D'Onta Foreman, while nobody should count out safeties DeShon Elliott and P.J. Locke.

At the other end of the spectrum, Ellis sees only six seniors making the first team. Of that group, safety Dylan Haines and linebacker Dalton Santos could easily lose their jobs to younger players.

If Strong has another big recruiting finish, he could once again have his hand forced by first-year players who are simply better than the guys in front of them. Strong, and the fans, should be fine with that after how his recruits performed in 2015.

ED ZURGA/Associated Press

Quit Running Off the Linemen

With Jake Raulerson announcing his transfer earlier this month, Texas has now seen five offensive linemen change schools during Strong's tenure. Some, if not most, of the blame absolutely falls on Strong's staff.

Raulerson joins Darius James and Rami Hammad as recent transfers who would have had a chance to start in 2016. The Longhorns have lost Taylor Doyle and Sedrick Flowers, both starters, to graduation and now have limited options to replace them in 2016.

Raulerson would have undoubtedly been part of the competition, but the Longhorn administration wouldn't play ball with his pursuit of an MBA.

Now you have two really good running backs and your new offense. As InsideTexas' Ian Boyd said: "It's probably the easiest offense to play OL for in all of college football."

Don't make this harder than it needs to be by running off your beef up front.

Keep After it on the Recruiting Trail

It's well-known that Texas is having its issues with the 2016 recruiting class. But with a little persistence, the end result should be just fine.

Thanks to some turmoil at Texas A&M, the Longhorns have found themselves within striking distance of some of the best recruits in the state. Per 247Sports' EJ Holland, 5-star safety Brandon Jones is giving the Longhorns a hard look after being considered an Aggie lean. The same can be said about fellow blue-chippers Jeffrey McCulloch and Eric Cuffee. 

Those are just the uncommitted prospects. Holland also reports that A&M defensive end commit Mark Jackson Jr. is pondering a decommitment and would consider Texas should he make that decision.

Elsewhere, the Longhorns are going to get a chance with 5-star Baylor offensive tackle Patrick Hudson.

Late adds have been a staple of Strong's recruiting strategy at Texas. If he gets it done with a couple of the talented players he's still after, the 2016 class will be OK.

Repair Strong's Reputation with Texas High School Coaches

There's a chance some of this is overblown, but there have been multiple reports that Strong has made a poor impression on high school coaches in Texas. Like it or not, he has to make an effort to change that.

247Sports' Jeff Howe is one of the latest beat writers to question Strong's strategy with this tight-knit community. Several of Howe's interviewees claimed to have never even met the Texas head coach while feeling the love from Baylor's Art Briles, TCU's Gary Patterson and even Houston's Tom Herman.

This is similar to a report by Grantland's Bryan Curtis, who learned the following about Strong's interaction with these coaches:

"

On some recent trips back to Texas, I talked to two high school coaches. Both have won state titles; both are “Texas guys” (as opposed to A&M guys); one has a player at Texas now. Neither coach had ever met Charlie Strong, nor talked to him on the phone, nor exchanged emails with him. One coach told me he’d been in the same room with Strong at a local coaches’ meeting, but Strong left after giving a speech without sticking around to shake hands. The other coach told me that when Texas recruited one of his players, Strong’s assistants funneled their communications through the recruit rather than the coach. This was the case even when the Texas assistants came to watch the recruit at high school practice—entering the high school coach’s domain, as it were.

"

It might seem ridiculous that a Power 5 head coach would have to stroke the egos of high school coaches to be successful, but that's Texas high school football. There's nothing normal about it when compared to the rest of the country, and it absolutely matters to recruiting in the long run.

Perhaps this is why Strong has made it a point to decorate his staff with Texas high school football alumni. Gilbert and offensive assistant Jeff Traylor were high school coaches in the state, and offensive line coach Matt Mattox has experience in Texas from his time at Houston.

Strong still seems to have a grip on recruiting, but it only makes sense to appease these guys. Bite the bullet and get it done.

Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Win 9 Games

Texas needs to win nine games next season—preferably without the assistance of a bowl game.

It's time for Strong to post a winning record. His team is youthful, but the young players proved no moment is too big for them in 2015, coming up big in wins over Oklahoma, Kansas State and Baylor. 

The fact is the Longhorns were—with a roster completely devoid of experienced talent—a point away from being bowl-eligible in 2015. Next season, all but six starters are coming back into the fold. With a competent offense courtesy of Gilbert, that should be enough to win at least eight games against this schedule (courtesy of FBSchedules.com).

Unless otherwise noted, all stats and information courtesy of TexasSports.com.