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the first QB coached by Dodge in more than 30 years to go
on to play for Texas.) Jena remembers people trying to talk
him out of going there. “He never wavered,” Jena says. “If
anything, it made him more determined and added fuel.”
A little negative talk meant nothing to a kid who had
already faced tremendous adversity. When Ehlinger was
in eighth grade, Ross, then 46, died of an apparent heart
attack while competing in the swimming portion of the Es-
cape from Alcatraz triathlon. As the oldest child, Ehlinger
felt pressure to grow up in a hurry. He immediately tried
to be a father figure for his brother, Jake (now a freshman
walk-on linebacker at Texas), and sister, Morgen (a junior
cheerleader at Westlake). And he did his best to be there
for his mom, too, even though she knew he needed to
grieve as well. But he was determined.
“If you ever want him to really light up, ask him about
Jake or Morgen,” Dodge says. “I’ll tell him something Jake
did [on the football field] or say I saw Morgen cheering,
and he’ll just light up.”
When Ehlinger arrived at Texas in the spring of 2017
after graduating high school a semester early, he already
exuded the kind of leadership the program was craving.
“The day Sam came in, he took control,” senior defensive
end Malcolm Roach says. “He was a guy that was easy to
follow. A guy who always spoke up. Led with confidence—
even when he was doing the wrong things. Anybody who’s
working hard like him is easy to respect.”
During his freshman season, Ehlinger did plenty
of “wrong things.” While splitting time with Shane
Buechele—who would transfer to SMU after the 2018
season—Ehlinger threw game-clinching interceptions
against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, and he fumbled
at the goal line in a 27–24 double-overtime loss to USC.
He didn’t have a grasp of the offense and wasn’t used to
the speed of the defenses he was facing. Every game was
survival mode. But he was learning and growing—and
always motivated by the memory of his father. He had the
race number Ross used in the Alcatraz race tattooed on his
rib cage in Roman numerals: mdlxvi. Jena remembers one
Sunday when Sam came home after his first season. “We
were halfway through dinner and Morgen looked at him
2016 season opener—and then finished 5–7 for the year.
Slapping that phrase across photos celebrating Texas’s
minor achievements (or embarrassing mistakes) was a way
for haters to poke fun at the team. Over the last decade,
Texas hasn’t won a Big 12 title or been a serious contender
for the College Football Playoff, and the team finished a
season in the Top 25 only twice. The program took big
steps in 2018, but Herman has his sights set beyond a mere
return to relevance. “We’ll never use that phrase in our
program because there’s a finality to it,” Herman said at
Big 12 media days in July. “We’ll never arrive at being back.”
At the same time, Herman will cut Ehlinger some slack.
The coach knows how important it is to his quarterback
to be not just a part of this new era of Longhorns football,
but also “a main reason for it.”
T
HE FACE of this comeback is a 6' 3", 230-pound
Austin native who was indoctrinated into the
ways of Longhorns fandom at an early age.
Ross and Jena Ehlinger, both Texas alums,
began taking their three kids to UT games when they were
babies. “I’d like to say it’s not brainwashing, since they love
it,” Jena says, laughing. “We were the people that others
would be like, ‘Why are their children here? What is wrong
with you people? Do they know what a babysitter is?’ ”
As Sam got older, his love for the Longhorns grew—
especially after he figured out as a two- or three-year-old
to cover his ears when Texas scored, to muffle the blast
from Smokey the Cannon. When the team was on the
road, his family had friends come to the house for watch
parties. When the game was over and everybody went to
grab food or chat, Sam stayed in front of the TV, glued to
the postgame analysis or flipping channels, looking for
more coverage. “He carved a football and a little Bevo into
the paint of my car with a rock when he was three,” Jena
says. “He was very proud. ‘Mom! Come look what I did!’
That was his art for the day.”
At Westlake High, Ehlinger broke the career passing
and touchdown records set by current NFL quarterbacks
(and Super Bowl champions) Drew Brees and Nick Foles.
He led the Chaparrals to the 6A Division I state champion-
ship game in 2015 and established himself as one of the
top dual-threat prospects in the country. His first college
offer came from Herman, who was then at Houston. But
Ehlinger quickly committed to Texas (and coach Charlie
Strong) before his junior year.
Even though the Longhorns went 24–26 during the four
years Ehlinger was in high school, nothing could sway
him from wanting to play at Texas. Westlake coach Todd
Dodge, who played quarterback for the Longhorns in the
early 1980s, remembers how often Ehlinger talked about
how he couldn’t wait to be part of the program and help get
Texas back into championship contention. (Ehlinger was
I WOULD WANT [SAM] IN MY
FOXHOLE,” SAYS HERMAN.
“WHATEVER CLICHÉ YOU
USE—I WANT THAT GUY BY MY
SIDE IN TIMES OF ADVERSITY.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW
SAM EHLINGER
