3 Factors That Will Determine Texas Football's Offensive Ceiling – Sports Illustrated

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The Texas Longhorns will be looked at as one of the top teams heading into the 2026 season, with plenty of expectations of being a national championship contender and with a chance at being the preseason No. 1 team in the country for the second year in a row.
Plenty of those expectations weigh on the talented roster Steve Sarkisian has built heading into the season, which is among the top in college football. Those predictions get even louder when taking a look at the talent the Longhorns have stockpiled on the offensive side of the ball.
The Longhorns should have one of the top offenses in the country in 2026, which could be the engine of a national championship-winning squad, and a lot will have to go right for the Longhorns to meet those expectations. Here's a look at three of those things that need to happen for the Texas offense to reach its ceiling.
The player who the Longhorns' offense revolves around is not a question; that being quarterback Arch Manning, who's the heartbeat of the Texas offense. Manning gained valuable experience in his first year as a starter, totaling 3,163 passing yards, completing 61.4 percent of his passes to go along with 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Now heading into his second season as the Longhorns' starting quarterback, Manning will once again be the talk around college football. Many talking heads have already penciled Manning in as a Heisman Trophy candidate with lofty expectations, whether fair or not.
Manning turned the corner towards the backend of the 2025 season after some early struggles, and if the quarterback builds from those late-season games, there won't be a question of how good he can be. While Sarkisian won't want to put all of the responsibility on Manning's shoulders, the Texas offense goes as Manning goes, meaning the quarterback will have to play close to expectations.
The Longhorns learned the hard way about having holes on their offensive line and the detriment it can be to a team's offensive system. Texas struggled up front from the get-go and never truly found any solution, while the unit did improve towards the end of the season.
Sarkisian has taken those struggles to heart with another new look on the offensive line set to take place in 2026. The Longhorns have a set foundation with left tackle Trevor Goosby, returning to anchor the unit, with center Connor Robertson and newly minted right guard Brandon Baker all coming back.
The Longhorns hadn't really utilized the transfer portal for offensive linemen much, but that changed this offseason with Texas pulling two immediate starters out of the portal. Melvin Siani is a plug-and-play starter at right tackle, and while Laurence Seymore may need some time to acclimate to the scheme, he should be an upgrade at left guard.
While injuries are unavoidable during a long season, if the Longhorns' offensive line can stay healthy and play tight as a unit, the Texas offense will have the opportunity to reach its potential.
The Longhorns brought in several game-changing playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. And if the Texas offense wishes to unlock another level, those new faces will have to make immediate impacts.
The biggest of those additions is obviously wide receiver Cam Coleman, who has become one of the top wide receivers in the country and was the coveted prize in the transfer portal. Coleman is the prototypical No. 1 wide receiver in an offense, and his skill set could unlock another level of both Manning and the Texas offense as a whole.
And the other featured additions for the Longhorns' offense are in the backfield in the incoming running back duo of Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers. The Texas running back room needed some juice after a rough season last year, and both Brown and Smothers are electric running backs who could restore the Longhorns' ground game.
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Ylver Deleon-Rios is an English major and Journalism and Media minor at the University of Texas at Austin. His experience in sports journalism includes writing for The Daily Texan, where he has worked on the soccer and softball beats. A native Houstonian, he roots for the Astros and the Rockets while also rooting for the Dallas Cowboys.
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