Let’s open the mailbag and answer a good subscriber question.
[Sign up for Inside Texas and get ONE MONTH for $1!]
‘WAR’, not to be confused with military conflict or a Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker scene, is a commonly used baseball metric.
WAR measures a player’s value in all facets of the game by deciphering how many more wins he’s worth than a replacement-level player at his same position (e.g., a Minor League replacement or a readily available fill-in free agent).
For example, if a shortstop and a first baseman offer the same overall production (on offense, defense and the basepaths), the shortstop will have a better WAR because his position sees a lower level of production from replacement-level players.
When Chan and Tucker sing, “War, what’s it’s good for, absolutely nothing,” it’s up to the listener to determine if they mean military conflict or the metric.
Our question, from stuckinrehab (he’s a physical therapist), applies WAR to the 2024 Texas Longhorns.
Team depth feels really great right now. What’s your one position on offense and one on defense with the starter having the highest “wins above replacement” value? Feels tougher than ever to name that.
That’s a fun question but to me there are two obvious answers.
First, I’ll cover the close-but-no-cigar candidates.
Offense
Jake Majors is a good center. We saw his value last season when was hurt early in the RRS. However, an under-appreciated aspect of why the loss of Majors hurt Texas so much was Cole Hutson was also injured. Hutson, and also Hayden Conner, are capable backups.
Gunnar Helm is also a plausible option but Sark would still have two credible options in Amari Niblack and Jordan Washington to replace him with. Or, Malik Agbo. There would be a drop off but it wouldn’t be debilitating, especially with UT’s abundance of weapons, schematic versatility, and play caller.
Running back and wide receiver are loaded with depth and there’s a ton of confidence in Arch Manning as the backup quarterback this season.
That reverts us back to the offensive line and All-American left tackle Kelvin Banks. Losing Banks, heaven forbid, would mean they’d have to replace his ability as a pass protector and run blocker, his experience, his growing leadership, and all at a premium position. Everybody is high on Trevor Goosby but he’ll be much more equipped to replace Banks a year from now. Losing Banks might mean an entire reshuffling of the line.
[Subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel!]
Defense
There are a number of players Texas can ill-afford to lose on defense.
Alfred Collins comes to mind given the need at defensive tackle but Vernon Broughton can approximate a good amount of what AC brings with his length and explosiveness.
Malik Muhammad and Jahdae Barron also comes to mind but Barron could replace Muhammad at corner and Jaylon Guilbeau just had his best series of practices at Star. So, Barron is covered, too. Even Andrew Mukuba could play Star. Texas is deep in the secondary.
Again, the answer is pretty clear to me. I’ll go with linebacker Anthony Hill who is working hard to replace Jaylan Ford. Hill is the most ready to play Mike linebacker from a physical, athletic, and mental standpoint. That’s three important attributes to replace. Then, to top it off, he’s the best non-LOS player when it comes to pressuring the quarterback.
Hill is an early round NFL Draft pick at a position that doesn’t have proven depth. While the NFL might diminish the value of Hill due to his position, WAR would not.
The post You ask, IT answers: Which Texas player on offense and defense has the highest WAR appeared first on On3.