Youth at QB a unifying theme for all but one of Texas' Power Five schools

[caption id="attachment_19978" align="alignright" width="300"]Photo by Will Leverett Photo by Will Leverett[/caption] Youth at the quarterback position is the unifying theme of the five P5 football programs in the state of Texas. TCU is the outlier, as the Horned Frogs are led by senior Trevone Boykin. Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Texas will all field quarterbacks this week who are two years or less removed from high school. The newest team to enter this club is Baylor. The Bears will see what blue-chip recruit Jarrett Stidham can do in the Art Briles offense. Former starter Seth Russell is out for the season with a neck injury, so the true freshman from Stephenville will get his shot to lead the Bears to a Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoffs. Briles’ squad debuted in the sixth spot of the College Football Playoff rankings. Texas A&M is also undergoing a change at the quarterback position, but this one has less to do with injury. Kyle Allen is banged up, but true freshman Kyler Murray is on the verge of taking over the quarterback position for good in College Station. If the Aggies do stick with Murray, the three-time Texas high school state champion will have winnable games against Auburn, Western Carolina and Vanderbilt before a road game against LSU ends the season. Texas Tech entered the season with sophomore Patrick Mahomes as the announced starter after he beat out Davis Webb. At Texas, the Longhorns demoted their offensive coordinator and moved redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard into the starter’s role with mixed success. Baylor is the only team of the four competing for a national title this season, so for the Bears it isn’t about the future. The future is right in front of Baylor in a year where the running game and defense, for the most part, are playing at a high enough level to compete with the best teams in the country. Baylor needs to win now, and Stidham won’t have time for a steep learning curve as the schedule heats up in November. For Texas, Tech and A&M, however, it is about the future. The jury is still out on Heard and Murray, but they’ve each shown flashes of leadership and talent. Mahomes is spectacular and a budding star. Football is a quarterback’s game and the quarterback position in the P5 ranks are in good hands for many years in the state of Texas.