For top football prospects, there's no offseason, so Austin Westlake star and Texas Longhorns quarterback commit Sam Ehlinger was hard at work on Sunday with legendary Longhorns passer Colt McCoy:
Great Sunday learning from one of the best! #HookEm @ColtMcCoy pic.twitter.com/4Qn83SS5eQ
— Sam Ehlinger (@sehlinger3) April 10, 2016
Rivals recruiting analyst Mike Farrell mentioned on Twitter that Ehlinger reminds him a bit of McCoy out of high school and there are some similarities in height, though Ehlinger is thicker than McCoy was coming out of Tuscola and has already benefited from focusing purely on football instead of splitting his time with other sports. Oh yeah, and Ehlinger also faces a higher level of competition at Westlake than McCoy did out in Big Country.
Those differences provide Ehlinger with an advantage over McCoy right now, but there's still plenty he can learn from his predecessor, who was one of the most accurate passers in NCAA history, won more games than any other quarterback to come before him in the NCAA, and emerged as an effective leader in the latter part of his career.
Rated as a top-100 prospect by the 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 4 dual-threat quarterback nationally, Ehlinger has already shown remarkable improvement from his sophomore season to his junior season. If he keeps working hard and listens to the sage advice of mentors like McCoy (as he surely will), then Ehlinger will have a chance to continue improving ahead of his planned early enrollment at Texas next year.
And about that ability to learn -- Ehlinger was one of the most assertive quarterbacks at the Houston The Opening Regional camp last Sunday in seeking out the coaches to soak up their instruction and wanted to take a lot of reps. Based on all available evidence, Ehlinger is a kid who just gets it.