Texas began its 2026 campaign on Saturday with a home game against Texas State, where the Longhorns debuted their new-look offense.
The Longhorns’ offense from a year ago was led by running back Quintrevion Wisner and wide receivers Ryan Wingo, DeAndre Moore Jr., and Parker Livingstone. Only Wingo is with Texas at the start of this season.
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This offseason, Wisner transferred to Florida State, Moore went to Colorado, and Livingstone pulled off the ultimate betrayal and transferred to Oklahoma.
Texas wasn’t worried as it brought in a key transfer of its own in wide receiver Cam Coleman Jr.
He spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Auburn and combined for 1,306 yards and 12 touchdowns in 23 games.
Coleman wasted little time in endearing himself to his new fan base. Manning hit Coleman for a six-yard score in the first quarter, Texas’ first touchdown of the season.
Later in the third quarter, the duo connected again. This time, Coleman came down with the 20-yard reception for another score.
The second touchdown showed Manning’s ability to thread the needle and put the football through tight windows to his pass-catchers. The quarterback had attempted this type of pass into triple coverage in the end zone earlier in the game, but it was picked off. Manning’s second attempt at it was successful to Coleman.
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Coleman and Manning were pulled with 5:50 left in the third quarter, but that didn’t stop either of them from showing off a connection that looks like it will be a problem for opposing defenses.
Coleman finished the day with 70 yards and two touchdowns on three receptions.
This was the third multi-score game of Coleman’s career so far. He tallied three scores against Louisiana Monroe in 2024 when he was with Auburn, and had two in a 2024 win over Texas A&M that went into four overtimes.
Manning finished day 20 of 27 passing for 305 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception. This was just the fourth time in his career with the Longhorns that the quarterback threw for four touchdowns in the same game.
Texas entered the season ranked No. 5 in the AP poll. While the Longhorns enjoyed a nice tune-up game on Saturday, Texas will have to refocus on business as it hosts No. 1 Ohio State next week.
