Texas receivers go from question marks to exclamation points in spring game | Bohls

Isaiah Bond started slow, then he caught a length-of-the-field strike in stride from Arch Manning for a touchdown on Saturday.

DeAndre Moore Jr. started fast and hauled in a 75-yard pass from Manning as well, leaving cornerback Terrance Brooks in his tracks. Moore also ended fast with a 3-yard touchdown on a smooth, down-and-out route in the end zone, too. He was the most pleasant surprise of the day in Texas' Orange-White spring game.

Then there was Ryan Wingo. Boy, was there Ryan Wingo. Remember the name because you’re going to hear it plenty.

The guy’s barely been on campus long enough to know where the Tower is, but Wingo wowed, nevertheless. At 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, he’s got star quality already.

Johntay Cook, off his promising freshman season, had a couple of nice receptions.

So did Alfred Collins, but that’s another story. He’s a defensive tackle, after all.

Ryan Niblett had a catch. Another freshman. Jeepers, how many freshman wideouts do they have?

Matt Golden was limited but had a 15-yard catch. And he’ll be the starting kick returner. He’s electric.

Silas Bolden might be, too, but he’s not here yet because the Oregon State slot receiver doesn’t arrive until after Memorial Day.

More: Texas is going to have to pass the ball too, which we didn't see in spring game | Bohls

Texas lost its stars, but has depth this season

What we’re getting at, judging from the showings in Saturday's scrimmage in front of about 40,000 interested fans on a gray, overcast afternoon, is that Texas has a slew of outstanding receivers to pick from this fall. A slew of them, and that’s always good.

Now Steve Sarkisian just has to pick them.

And he ain’t picking ’em all.

In truth, the fourth-year Longhorns coach wants a few good men. A few will do.

He’s looking to replace arguably the best two-man tandem this side of Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby or two from the Roy Williams-B.J. Johnson-Sloan Thomas trio.

“We’ve got a quality room in there,” Sarkisian said of his wideouts. “There is a mentality that receivers got to have, especially for us. It’s pretty clear that our receivers got confidence and a skill set and a rapport with this quarterback. So hopefully we’re creating that just as an overall attitude in that room. And not just one or two guys.”

Or not. Texas has more aspiring receiver candidates than Sark can shake a stick at. He could certainly use another defensive lineman or two and probably a cornerback since Gavin Holmes and Brooks don’t seem to be on the same level as Malik Muhammad.

More: Arch Manning sizzles for Texas, but Quinn Ewers is clearly the Longhorns' starter | Golden

“We saw a lot of different guys make plays today, which is encouraging,” Sarkisian said. “You never know in April what your rotation might look like, come September. The positive thing is a lot of guys made plays from the front-line guys even to other guys. Walk-ons made plays.”

Yes, Thatcher Milton, a 5-foot-10 senior walk-on from Houston Cypress-Fairbanks, scored a 50-yard touchdown from Trey Owens on the freshman quarterback’s first series of the day. Still, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Bond and Wingo may have separated themselves in the spring. They might be the leaders in the clubhouse for the key roles at wideout.

“Oh, they’re unique in that both can really run,” Sarkisian said. “We thought Wingo was a unique talent and had the character.”

More: No Trey Moore? No problem for Texas football's pass rush in spring game

Wingo combines athleticism with the speed of a 10.5 100-meter man and the ability to make contested catches. It’s pretty clear he comes ready to play right out of the box.

Texas has lots of options at receiver

And Bond has a physical style, good speed and experience that comes with playing at Alabama. His catch to beat Auburn on the last play of the game last season further embellishes his credentials as a big-time, impactful receiver who had 48 catches last season with four scores.

Ewers likes what he sees in Bond and Wingo as well.

“Bond can flat out run past any DB. You guys can see that,” Ewers said. “The same thing with Wingo. Wingo’s got a bigger frame.”

Texas is pretty much operating with a blank slate. Its top four receivers, counting tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, totaled 217 receptions for 3,046 yards and 19 touchdowns. Beyond Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell and slot receiver Jordan Whittington, three other receivers caught just 10 passes for 153 yards in 14 games. Cook had eight of those receptions for 136 yards.

More: To close out the spring, Texas proves it has depth instead of a controversy at quarterback

In short, Sarkisian is very selective about who will be catching passes from Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. His is not a democracy. He wouldn’t be opposed to using more, but he’s not wedded to getting everybody snaps.

If the spring game were the only time to view these receivers, you’d probably rank the top three at Wingo, Moore and Bond. And that’s possible because Wingo’s a five-star blue-chip freshman out of St. Louis, Moore had a showcase game, including two touchdowns and 93 yards, and Bond has his Alabama pedigree and showed off his play-making potential by separating from Holmes for that crowd-jolting touchdown late in the day.

That hardly means those will be the top three, but they might be.

But it’s good to have options, and Sark’s got plenty.

Going deep takes on new meaning with this group

It’d be nice to have two alpha receivers like Worthy and Mitchell because they carried the brunt of the load last season and combined for 130 catches and 16 of the team’s 25 touchdown receptions. Worthy was an FWAA second-team All-American multi-purpose player since he also excelled as a punt returner, averaging 17 yards a runback and scoring a touchdown.

Mitchell was as clutch a receiver as Texas has ever had. He had just one drop in 86 targets as a Longhorn last year, made the catch of the year on a critical third-and-long to hold off TCU and scored a touchdown in a College Football Playoff game for the third consecutive year.

It might be impossible to duplicate the success of one of them, if not both.

But the Longhorns have a plethora of candidates, three talented quarterbacks to target them and four returning starters in the offensive line. Sarkisian doesn’t want to put any restrictions on who might and might not be starters when Texas lines up against Colorado State on Aug. 31.

He’s not ruling out freshman Parker Livingstone, who “has made plays this spring but didn’t have the big wow play today.” Or rookie Aaron Butler. Sarkisian said “there’s no question about the skill set that he has. He can really run.”

Golden? “He made some plays today, too.”

The list goes on and on. So does Sark’s search.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: New Texas wide receivers gather a lot of spring game attention