This may not be Sam Ehlinger’s final year at Texas after NCAA ruling

What if Sam Ehlinger had two more seasons left with Texas football?

2020 may not be Sam Ehlinger‘s final season with Texas football after all.

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, “The NCAA Division I Council decided today that fall sport student-athletes can compete in any amount of competitions this year and it will not count as a season of eligibility. This still needs to be approved by NCAA Board of Governors on Friday.”

Since the Texas Longhorns plan on playing this fall, this means Ehlinger could also play in 2021.

Would it serve Sam Ehlinger to play two more seasons with Texas football?

While most star college quarterbacks look to go pro with two or three years’ worth of starts under their belts, it is debatable if Ehlinger’s skill-set translates to the NFL. He is a big, strong athlete, but he is more known as a runner than as a thrower of the football. While he could be the league’s next Dak Prescott, he could also be the next Tim Tebow. That’s a lot of variance right there.

For that reason, Ehlinger is not slated to be a first-round pick in the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft. He could have gone pro last year, but probably wouldn’t have been anything more than a day-three selection. Ehlinger is a great college player, but he’s more of a project than a prospect at the NFL level. However, two more years refining his skills as a passer in the Big 12 may end up serving him.

And even if it doesn’t work out that way, Ehlinger has a better shot of becoming a legend in his hometown of Austin, Texas than he would in any of the 30 NFL cities across the country. Could you imagine if he is the quarterback that finally gets Texas back? What constitutes Texas being back? It’s simple really. Win the Big 12 conference championship and reach the College Football Playoff.

With the Oklahoma Sooners starting a new quarterback in redshirt freshman Spencer Rattler, Lincoln Riley’s team hasn’t been this vulnerable since he was serving as Bob Stoops’ offensive coordinator before taking over full-time in 2017. The Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Iowa State Cyclones should be good, but they’re not on the same level of Oklahoma or maybe even Texas.

If the Longhorns get to the Big 12 Championship game this season and lose to presumably Oklahoma, it might be enough to convince Ehlinger to come back for one final super-senior season in Austin. Top high school prospect Quinn Ewers may not like it, but he’d have to beat out Ehlinger for the starting job should Ehlinger return to the Austin campus in 2021 for a shot at redemption.

Ehlinger may feel he’s done playing in college after 2020, but he does have a shot at coming back.

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