Two Texas Longhorns named to Phil Steele's All-Big 12 team

The Texas Longhorns lost a significant amount of talent and experience from the 2014 team and the results are apparent from Phil Steele's All-Big 12 team, which features only two Longhorns on the first team -- senior offensive guard Sedrick Flowers and senior cornerback Duke Thomas.

By contrast, there are seven Baylor Bears on the first team and five Oklahoma Sooners.

It's not just the lack of high-level talent available for Texas in 2015 that causes concern when projecting possible win totals for the Horns -- it's the lack of depth, too, as the second team features only one Texas player in junior defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway.

The third and fourth teams feature a few more Longhorns, including senior running back Johnathan Gray, junior offensive guard Kent Perkins, senior defensive tackle Desmond Jackson, senior linebacker Dalton Santos, and junior safety Dylan Haines on the third team and senior linebacker Peter Jinkens and freshman linebacker Malik Jefferson on the fourth team.

Notice the distinct lack of any quarterbacks, wide receivers, or tight ends, as junior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes wasn't in the top four at his position and even finished behind Texas Tech's Pat Mahomes and Oklahoma State's Mason Rudolph, two players who combine for seven career starts.

If the Texas offense is going to bounce back from a dismal 2014 season, players at those three positions need to emerge to rank among the conference's best, especially considering that there are 12 wide receivers on the list and no Longhorns players seem overly deserving of inclusion. Even senior Marcus Johnson doesn't seem to have much of a case after such a disappointing season.

There are certainly plenty of issues with lists like these -- even the season-ending lists voted on by coaches and writers -- but the talent drain and lack of development in the Longhorns program are on clear display here. So head coach Charlie Strong has a major challenge on his hands this fall.