The Texas Longhorns didn’t just add help around Arch Manning this offseason. They went after a centerpiece, and Cam Coleman was the headliner.
After nearly eight months of anticipation, Coleman is set to make his Texas debut tomorrow against Texas State at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The Bobcats can score, but Coleman’s arrival is about giving Texas another weapon who changes how defenses line up from the first snap.
At his core, Coleman looks like the classic X receiver: big, physical, aligned on the outside, and built to stress a defense vertically. His job starts with making the secondary respect the deep ball and keeping a safety glued to his side, which opens everything else for Texas.
If defenses decide to live in single-high looks, Coleman has to make them pay by winning contested throws. If they back off, he should be the guy turning quick screens and hitch routes into chunk gains.
Coleman’s speed and route style already have people intrigued. As one post put it: “New Texas WR Cam Coleman (formerly at Auburn) runs every vertical route like he hit the rainbow strip. Really excited to see how he develops with the Longhorns. pic.twitter.com/rNh2UmZWUX”
But there’s more to this fit than just straight-line shots downfield.
“He came here for a reason,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said at a media availability. “He wanted an NFL system; he wanted to learn how things are taught in the NFL and he wanted a full route tree. He wanted formations, he wanted motions, he wanted to read coverages and run routes based off of coverages.”
That’s where Texas can expand Coleman’s game. At Auburn, 75.9% of his targets came on routes either short, between 0-9 yards down the field, or deep, over 20 yards down the field. Texas should lean into a more balanced menu.
The contrast with Texas’ X receiver last season, Parker Livingstone, is notable. Livingstone got 34.4% of his targets over the middle, while Coleman’s number was 23%. Sarkisian’s pro-style offense asks outside receivers to do more than just run go routes, and that kind of responsibility appears to be exactly what Coleman wanted.
So while the vertical threat remains the starting point, Coleman should also be in line for digs, comebacks, deep curls and crossing routes in the Longhorns’ offense. That versatility is what makes his debut worth watching.
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