2016 Texas Longhorns football team

Preseason

The Texas Longhorns finished the previous season with an overall record of 5–7, with a 3–5 record in Big 12 play; this placed Texas at seventh in the conference. Although select 5–7 football teams, namely those with the highest Academic Progress Rates (APR), filled several bowl games as an inadequate number of teams finished with the six wins traditionally required for bowl eligibility, Texas did not have a high enough APR; thus, the season ended with a regular season upset win over the Baylor Bears.

Towards the end of the 2015 season, Texas' administration reportedly began showing interest in hiring then TCU co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie to serve as an offensive coordinator for the Longhorns in 2016. This interest culminated in several meetings and an eventual offer by Charlie Strong in early December 2015; Cumbie eventually turned down the offer. Concurrently, the Longhorns administration expressed interest in Tulsa co-offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert for the same job at Texas, among other candidates. Despite media reports suggesting that Gilbert took the Texas job on December 11, later reports from the same day indicated that Gilbert had also turned down the coaching offer. Allegedly, inconsistencies with the exact terms of the offer led to Gilbert's initial refusal. However, further negotiations between Texas and Gilbert resulted in the official announcement of Texas' hiring of the former Tulsa offensive coordinator, along with Gilbert's offensive line coach, Matt Mattox, on December 12, 2015. Consequently, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and offensive line coach Joe Wickline, who had remained a part of the Texas coaching staff since 2014, were released.

Concurrent with Texas' search for a new offensive coordinator, Missouri reportedly showed interest in Texas special teams and tight end coach Jeff Traylor. On December 16, Traylor was offered and accepted a pay raise from the Longhorns, suggesting that Traylor's scheduled interview with the Missouri Tigers was eventually cancelled. Traylor later interviewed for the vacant head coach position at Texas State in January 2016, though Texas State would eventually hire Everett Withers as head coach. Traylor's son, Jordan Traylor, became a graduate assistant for the Longhorns on January 8 after finishing his collegiate football career at Texas A&M. On January 18, Texas running backs coach Tommie Robinson announced his departure from Austin to join the University of Southern California (USC) coaching staff for the same position, meaning that none of initial offensive staff hires made by Charlie Strong at the beginning of his first year at Texas will be set to coach the Longhorns in 2016. On February 11, Texas defensive backs coach Chris Vaughn was dismissed from the team after he was implicated in an ongoing NCAA investigation of the Ole Miss Rebels football team. The same day, wide receivers coach Jay Norvell left the University of Texas to coach at the same position at Arizona State, resulting in a total of three significant coaching vacancies at Texas by mid-February.

On February 12, Texas was set to reportedly hire Purdue defensive backs coach Taver Johnson; however, Texas would eventually hire Arkansas defensive backs coach Clay Jennings on February 17 to fill the same vacant position at Texas. Concurrently, the Longhorns hired two other coaches to fill Texas coaching vacancies, including former Toledo Rockets co-offensive coordinator Anthony Johnson as a running backs coach on February 13 and former Indianapolis Colts running backs coach Charlie Williams as a wide receivers coach on February 15. Around the same time, Texas A&M pitched an offer to Longhorns defensive line coach Brick Haley, though Haley decided to stay with the Longhorns.

In mid-February, Johnathan Blue, a trustee at the University of Louisville, requested Texas head coach Charlie Strong to provide a statement for Blue's wife, Tracy Blue, at court as part of an ongoing divorce case in Kentucky. In addition, any communication between Strong and Blue was requested; however, the divorce was settled on February 25 without Strong needing to testify.

Spring practice

The Longhorns began spring practice on March 7, which subsequent practices interspersed over the following weeks. Charlie Strong noted that the top three priorities for spring practice were to develop Texas' defensive linemen, wide receivers, and quarterbacks. Spring practices began utilizing shoulder pads on March 11. On March 29, Jerrod Heard, who had served as the starting quarterback for Texas during several games in 2015, suffered a shoulder injury during practice. Although no timetable for his return to practice was set, the university indicated the injury was a minor sprain of his throwing shoulder. By April 5, the Longhorns had completed ten spring practice sessions.

Spring game

Texas' annual Orange-White spring game was set for April 16 at the Longhorns' home field in Austin, Texas; this placed the game 141 days before Texas' first official game against Notre Dame. Although the game was scheduled to play out over four quarters, inclement weather forced the spring game to end after halftime. Throughout the game, the 'Texas' team represented the first-team, while the 'Horns' represented the second-team. The spring game featured the hurry-up offensive scheme introduced by new offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert.

The Texas side of the game began with the football to start the game, and were eventually stopped by the Horns defense to a punt following a three-and-out. Quarterback Shane Buechele threw a 27-yard pass to Armanti Foreman on the ensuing drive to score a touchdown for the Horns; running back Chris Warren III would run a 51-yard touchdown on the following drive roughly a minute later for Texas, tying the game at 7–7 to end the first quarter. The five subsequent drives ended without any scores, though one drive ended in a failed 46-yard field goal attempt from Mitchel Becker. In the second quarter, Texas would score two additional touchdowns on a run from D'Onta Foreman and a long pass from Shane Buechele to John Burt; following the last touchdown of the game, both teams turned the ball over via an interception and a fumble. At halftime, Charlie Strong ended the spring game due to worsening weather conditions, concluding a 21–7 victory for the Texas team.

Fall practice

Camp practices in the leadup to the 2016 football season began on August 6. During fall practice, former starting quarterback Jerrod Heard was moved to the wide receiver position.

Recruiting

Following the 2016 recruiting cycle, a total of 28 players signed their National Letter of Intent to become a part of the 2016 Texas Longhorns football team. Prior to National Signing Day on February 3, 2016, 17 players had pledged their commitments to the Longhorns, while four of these players became early enrollees at the beginning of the 2015-16 spring semester. Of the 28 recruited players, all are from high schools in the United States, with none originating from other countries or from junior colleges. Of Texas' recruits, 23 were from Texas, 4 were from Louisiana, and 1 was from California. Collin Johnson committed to the Longhorns on April 17, 2014, becoming the first player to announce their commitment to the team. As the final previously-uncommitted Texas recruit to submit his letter of intent on National Signing Day, Jordan Elliot initially became the final recruit of the 2016 class on February 3, 2016. However, offensive guard Patrick Hudson would later sign is letter of intent well after National Signing Day on June 29. Two players announced their commitments in 2014, while ten did so in 2015. Five additional players committed to Texas in 2016 prior to National Signing Day, with another four uncommitted players signing their letters of intent in June 2016. Thirteen of Texas' recruits primarily served as offensive players, while another thirteen primarily served as defensive players. Two additional recruits, Lil'Jordan Humphrey and Donovan Duvernay, were recruited as a general purpose athlete.

On January 2, 2016, offensive tackle prospect Jean Delance of Mesquite, Texas announced his commitment to the Longhorns during the 2016 Under Armour All-America Game. On the weekend of January 16–17, Texas hosted 19 prospective and committed players on official visits to the campus; of the 19 prospects, the Longhorns would eventually sign 15 recruits. Shortly afterwards, former longtime Kansas State commit Zach Shackelford, an offensive linesmen, flipped his commitment to the Longhorns. Two days later, Shackelford, along with three other Longhorns recruits, became early enrollees as Texas for the school year's spring semester; as a result, all four were eligible for spring practice with the Longhorns football team in 2016. On January 24, former cornerback prospect Obi Eboh dropped his commitment to Texas, instead opting to sign with Stanford. On National Signing Day, seven players announced their commitment to the Texas football team and faxed their letters of intent. According to ESPN's metrics, Texas' recruiting class had climbed over 20 spots to hold a top 10 ranking following the prolific recruiting day. Among these recruits was runningback Erick Fowler, who had been committed to Louisiana State (LSU) up until National Signing Day. Following National Signing Day, Texas' 2016 recruiting class was ranked as the 13th, 10th, 13th, and 8th best in the country by 247Sports.com, ESPN, Rivals.com, and Scout.com, respectively. All four recruiting services listed Texas as having the best 2016 recruiting class in the Big 12 Conference. After additional recruits signed in June 2016, Texas' recruiting class was ranked 9th, 7th, and 3rd by 247Sports.com, Rivals.com, and Scout.com, respectively.

In June 2016, the firing of then-Baylor head coach Art Briles in the aftermath of the Baylor University football scandal resulted in four players formerly committed to Baylor singing with the Texas football team; the players were able to change schools after Baylor failed to submit their national letters of intent to Big 12 Conference offices, allowing the players to request a release from the letter.

Both 247Sports.com and Scout.com listed safety Brandon Jones of Nacogdoches High School as Texas' highest rated recruit; both services considered Jones to be the best safety prospect in the United States for 2016. According to ESPN, Texas' highest rated recruit was linebacker prospect Jeffrey McCulloch; fourteen of Texas' twenty-eight recruits, including McCulloch, were listed on the ESPN 300, which listed the 300 top recruiting prospects nationwide according to the network's metrics. Rivals.com listed linebacker and former LSU-commit Erick Fowler as Texas' top recruit for 2016. Several Texas recruits received various accolades during the 2016 recruiting cycle. Quarterback Shane Buechele was one of 18 quarterbacks who participated in the 2016 Elite 11 quarterback competition; Buechele also participated in Nike's The Opening alongside future Texas recruits Eric Cuffee, Erick Fowler, and Jeffrey McCulloch. Three players formed a part of the 2016 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, while four participated in the 2016 Under Armour All-America Game; another three recruits played in the 2016 Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl.

Personnel

A search for a new Texas offensive coordinator in December 2015 concluded with the official hiring of former Tulsa co-offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert on December 12, 2015 as both an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks' coach. As part of the negotiations, Matt Mattox, the former Tulsa offensive line coach, was also named to the same position at Texas. Both coaches were given three-year coaching contracts, with Gilbert and Mattox awarded $850,000 and $550,000 annual salaries, respectively. The move implicated the release of Shawn Watson and Joe Wickline, who had occupied the newly changed coaching positions since 2014. Jay Norvell, who had served as a co-offensive coordinator for much of the 2015 season, became solely a wide receivers' coach following the coaching changes.

On December 26, 2015, Texas defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway declared for the 2016 NFL Draft, thus forgoing his fourth year as part of the Longhorns football team. Jermaine Roberts, a cornerback recruit for Texas in 2014, announced his transfer from the Texas football team in February 2016; former Longhorns defensive backs Adrian Colbert and Bryson Echols similarly announced to transfer from the university in February. In addition to Texas' 2016 recruiting class, former LSU placekicker and 2015 Lou Groza Award semifinalist Trent Domingue signed a financial aid agreement to join the Texas football program as a graduate transfer on July 24, 2016.

Returning starters

Texas' 2016 team will feature seven offensive players and ten defensive players that started games for the team in 2015, as well as punter Michael Dickson. In addition, fifteen other players that saw substantial playing time in 2015 are set to return as part of the Longhorns in 2016. According to ESPN, the total number of combined starts among Texas players returning in 2016 was 310, with 111 of those starts from returning offensive players and 119 from defensive players; Texas' 310 combined starts ranked third among teams in the Big 12.

Award watch lists

In addition to individual awards, linebacker Malik Jefferson was named to Sporting News' Preseason All-American first team on July 1. Jefferson was also named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team on July 13, alongside cornerback Davante Davis and offensive linesmen Patrick Vahe and Connor Williams. The Big 12 also identified Jefferson as the Big 12 Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

Schedule

Texas will play its first three games against teams outside the Big 12; two of these will be at home and one will be played away. The opening game against Notre Dame will be the second consecutive year in which the two teams have played as part of a scheduling agreement made in 2010. Although the game was initially scheduled on September 3, in April 2016 the game was moved to the following day to maximize national coverage. Similarly, a deal made in 2009 pits Texas and California Golden Bears football in a non-conference game, while the game between Texas and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) replaces an initially scheduled home-and-home series between Texas and Minnesota.

On November 24, 2015, the Big 12 released its tentative schedule for intra-conference games, occupying the remaining nine games on Texas' schedule; four of these games are to be played at home, four away, and one game, the Red River Showdown, will be played in Dallas, Texas. Although the Red River Showdown is set to take place on a team-neutral field, Oklahoma is designated as the home team on even-numbered years; thus, Texas will serve as the away team during the 2016 edition of the rivalry game. Conference games are set to be played in a round-robin format, and thus all Big 12 teams will face all other teams within the conference. Kickoff times for Texas' games against UTEP, California, and TCU were released by the conference on June 1.

The Longhorns will play on consecutive weeks from September 4 to November 24 with the exception of the week of September 24, which serves as a bye week. In addition, Texas will not play a game on the week of December 3 in contrast to six other Big 12 teams. All games will be played on Saturday except for the game against Notre Dame, which will be played on Sunday, and the game against TCU, which will be played on a Friday. The game between Texas and TCU was initially scheduled for Thanksgiving, but was rescheduled for November 25 in February 2016; Texas had switched between playing TCU or Texas Tech on Thanksgiving after Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 2012.

Media affiliates

Texas' flagship radio station is KTXX-FM ("The Horn", 104.9 FM) based in Austin, Texas. Fourteen other FM stations and twenty-one AM stations cover UT's football games around Texas, while a pair of FM and AM stations based in Austin cover Texas games in Spanish. Texas Longhorns football games are broadcast via satellite radio on Sirius channel 117, XM channel 202, and SiriusXM channel 969.

On June 1, the Big 12 announced that the Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma would be televised by Fox Sports 1, making it the first time since 1998 that a FOX-affiliated channel covered the game; between 1998 and 2016, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) carried the rivalry game.

Rankings

The preaseason Coaches Poll was released on August 4, 2016, with Texas outside of the top 25 but receiving 34 points; this marked the first time the Longhorns appeared in any of the major ranking polls since Week 7 of 2015. Similarly, the preaseason AP Poll, released on August 21, 2016, placed Texas outside of the top 25 but awarded the Longhorns 12 points. In both polls, Texas was the fifth highest ranked team in the Big 12. Following a victory against Notre Dame in the season opener, the Longhorns were ranked in the top-25 for the first time since December 2013. Texas moved from an unranked position to 11th in the AP Poll, marking the highest rank given to Texas by the poll since October 2012.