Longhorns' Ehlinger Named Colts Starter For Preseason

After an impressive outing in his preseason NFL Debut, former Longhorns star Sam Ehlinger has been rewarded

Matt Galatzan | Aug 16, 2021

Former Texas Longhorns star quarterback Sam Ehlinger has made waves early in his rookie season with the Indianapolis Colts.

At the beginning of training camp, oft-injured starter Carson Wentz went down with a foot injury that will likely keep him out for up to 12 weeks, which paved the way for Ehlinger and former Washington Huskie Jacob Eason to compete for the starting role in his absence.

And after his success in training camp, as well as his first preseason appearance, Ehlinger has taken full advantage of that opportunity, earning the start in the Colts second preseason game on Saturday against the Vikings.

While Eason started against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Ehlinger stole the show, bringing the Colts back from an 18-10 deficit to win 21-18.

While he may not have the arm strength that Eason has, Ehlinger does have enough arm strength to make any throw that the Colts would need him to make.

More than that, however, Ehlinger also brings the ability to make plays with his feet -- something he proved on Sunday.

"Jacob has an elite arm,” Reich said. “They’re both athletic, but I think Sam is more of a runner. He proved that in college. He makes a lot of plays with his feet. Sam has a good arm but not the elite arm. So, he finds ways to get it done. And when you’re that kind of player, that’s what you do. He’s just very good at that.”

If Ehlinger can repeat his Sunday performance next week against the Vikings, and continue his impressive string of practices, he could very well be named the Colts' full-time starter for week one of the regular season.

And by that point, if he has Colts rolling well enough, maybe even longer.

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Published Aug 16, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.