The Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes have two of the best rosters in college football. There are the obvious stars: the Arch Mannings, the Jeremiah Smiths and the Colin Simmonses.<\/p>\n
But these programs don\u2019t just have star power \u2014 they have depth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And in the final installment of this grand trilogy of three games in three years, players outside the obvious headliners could swing Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Jermaine Bishop Jr., Texas freshman wide receiver<\/p>\n
Entering a crowded receiving room, it seemed unlikely that Bishop Jr. would see serious time as a freshman. Then, training camp started and the narrative began to shift.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Bishop Jr. is) very poised. He\u2019s very composed. He\u2019s very confident, to go along with his ability,\u201d head coach Steve Sarkisian said after Texas\u2019 second fall camp scrimmage. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t surprise me at all if, in a couple weeks, he has a significant role offensively for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarkisian showed that he\u2019s already schemed up plays for Bishop Jr. in the game against Texas State, dialing up a screen pass for him in the second quarter. Although he dropped the pass, the play itself may have been more telling than the result.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bishop Jr. could provide a crucial change of pace at Sarkisian\u2019s disposal this weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Devin Sanchez, Ohio State sophomore defensive back<\/p>\n
If college football fans don\u2019t already know Sanchez\u2019s name, they likely will by the end of the season. After playing 13 games and starting one as a freshman, he entered his sophomore year as one of defensive coordinator Matt Patricia\u2019s premier outside cornerbacks.<\/p>\n
Against Ball State, he already matched his freshman season total in pass breakups with two. Now, he gets a far tougher test from Texas junior wide receivers Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Sanchez can hold up against Coleman or Wingo without safety help, he gives Patricia far more flexibility in the secondary.<\/p>\n
Dylan Sikorski and Laurence Seymore III, Texas offensive line<\/p>\n
While left guard may not be the most attractive position on the offense, it certainly is the biggest question mark for Texas. A fifth-year transfer acquisition, Seymore III was expected to be Sarkisian\u2019s answer at left guard. Then a lower-body injury in preseason camp opened the door for junior Sikorski.<\/p>\n
Against Texas State, the two offensive linemen saw a nearly even split at left guard, Sikorski playing 33 snaps to Seymore III\u2019s 36. Sarkisian expects to continue rotating the two until one becomes the clear starter.<\/p>\n
The Buckeyes offer a far more difficult test than Texas State, where neither of the two allowed a pressure. Whichever guard handles the pressure better will go a long way towards determining how comfortable senior quarterback Arch Manning is in the pocket.<\/p>\n
Legend Bey, Ohio State freshman running back\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe the most interesting pure athlete on this list, Bey played quarterback in high school, finishing his career with over 4,000 rushing yards and 3,500 passing yards. He also ran a 10.23-second 100-meter dash his junior year.<\/p>\n
That explosiveness carried over to his positional transition at Ohio State. Despite only playing 12 total plays on offense against Ball State, he still showed impressive lateral agility as a ball-carrier through 74 total offensive yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s no guarantee he\u2019ll get offensive snaps, Bey does have more than one avenue to break open the game, as he is also listed as a kick returner. Don\u2019t be surprised if he finds a way to make his mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes have two of the best rosters in college football. There…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-432597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}