Hudson Card To Start At QB In Longhorns' Season Opener

Texas Longhorns redshirt freshman Hudson Card beat redshirt junior Casey Thompson to become starting quarterback for the Longhorns’ season opener against Louisiana on Sept. 4, Horns247 reports.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian informed the quarterbacks after a walkthrough practice on Friday night of his decision and indicated both QBs would play in the opener, the outlet reports.

Horns247 reports that Thompson began fall camp as the quarterback getting the first reps with the No. 1 offense, and Card finished camp as the quarterback getting those reps as Thompson struggled with interceptions early in camp while Card protected the ball better throughout camp.

Card has played in two games and made his collegiate debut in the season opener versus UTEP where he rushed two times for eight yards and threw one pass. He appeared in the fourth quarter of the Valero Alamo Bowl win over Colorado where he completed 1-of-2 passes for five yards and carried the ball twice for three yards, marking his first collegiate pass completion.

When Sarkisian was hired after the 2020 season to replace Tom Herman, Thompson’s advantage of having more experience in the Longhorns’ offense under the former coach seemingly disappeared.

Thompson has played in three games — first seeing action late in wins over UTEP and at Kansas State. He stepped in for an injured Sam Ehlinger in the second half of the Valero Alamo Bowl versus Colorado, where he completed 4-of-7 passes for 55 yards and two touchdowns, and carried the ball once for nine yards against UTEP.

The redshirt junior completed 71% of his passes last season with six touchdowns and zero interceptions while leading the offense to points on eight of 10 drives — against UTEP, Kansas State and Colorado — but threw a pick-six near the end of the first half of UT’s spring game, Horns247 reports.