OTF Premium How changing AJ Milwee's assignment on game day helped the Texas offense get untracked

[Jeff Howe]

The Texas offense was bad through the first seven games of the 2025 season.

After plodding their way to season-low marks for total yards (179), yards per play (3.3) and first downs (eight) in a 16-13 overtime road win over Kentucky, the Longhorns fielded one of the least productive offenses in the SEC.

The following is what Texas was averaging in a few key statistical categories and where the offense ranked nationally and in the conference (FBS ranking/SEC ranking):

Points Per Game — 26.7 (79th/11th)

Total Yards Per Game — 368.1 (82nd/11th)

Yards Per Play — 5.64 (74th/11th)

Rushing Yards Per Game — 149.4 (74th/11th)

Yards Per Rushing Attempt — 4.1 (84th/9th)

Passing Yards Per Game — 218.7 (78th/13th)

Third Down Conversions — 38.1% (89th/13th)

The Longhorns righted the ship in a 45-38 overtime road win over Mississippi State the week after escaping Lexington. Behind Arch Manning’s then-career-high 346 passing yards, Texas rallied from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter, with Matthew Caldwell’s touchdown pass to Emmett Mosley V in overtime aiding the program’s biggest comeback win in 18 years.

The victory in Starkville helped Manning start anew. His rise coincided with Cole Hutson’s return from injury and subsequent move to left guard for the Vanderbilt game, which helped the Longhorns find an offensive line combination that worked.

Those two factors played a significant role in the offense turning things around. A third factor that doesn’t get talked about as much, however, but was just as important in sorting things out was Steve Sarkisian’s decision to move AJ Milwee from the sideline to the press box on game day.

Milwee, who came to Texas with Sarkisian from Alabama, started his time on the Forty Acres working from the press box. At some point, Sarkisian felt Quinn Ewers needed someone with him on the sideline, which required Milwee to move downstairs.

Milwee told On Texas Football during the program’s spring media availability for the offensive coaching staff that the 2023 season is when he and Sarkisian felt coaching from the sideline would best benefit Ewers and, in turn, the offense. The offense struggling, combined with the NCAA lifting restrictions on countable coaches allowing Mike Bimonte to be involved on game day, made the conditions ripe to move Milwee back to the booth.

Sarkisian didn’t give up calling plays. He hasn't indicated that he plans to relinquish that role any time soon.

So, if he’s not going to turn offensive play-calling over to someone else, then Sarkisian having a pair of eyes in the press box operating as an extension of himself might be the next best thing.

“When you add Mike — and we’re all in the same room — I think, from Coach Sark’s perspective, it’s like, ‘OK, AJ has been with me now — we’re going on Year 8 together,’” Milwee said. “It allowed me — different from the first time I was up there — I knew what I was looking for and I knew what he was asking for, and I think that made it easy. It made it easy for me to communicate to him what he was looking for and whether it was plays we need to get back to or a certain grouping of plays we need to get to next, it was more or less to help him, when he came back over from the defensive side of the ball, ‘Hey, what do you want here?’ Whether it was Mike and I talking or Coach (Kyle) Flood and I talking — ‘Hey, we’d like these runs and this grouping of plays coming up,’ we can go to that. It gave (Sarkisian) confidence to get into the flow of, ‘Hey, let’s go with these plays. They’re good. Everything looks good on the iPad from what we’re getting.’ I think it was an easy transition, understanding what he’s looking for.”

Except for the running game, which mustered only 23 yards on 17 official rushing attempts against Georgia (even though the Longhorns ran for a combined 453 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry in wins over Texas A&M and Michigan), the Texas offense showed marked improvement over the last six games of the season with Milwee in the press box.

Points Per Game — 34.8

Total Yards Per Game — 412.2

Yards Per Play — 6.32

Rushing Yards Per Game — 124.2

Yards Per Rushing Attempt — 4.33

Passing Yards Per Game — 288

Third Down Conversions — 40.5%

Whether it’s evaluating his coaching staff or deciding which players on offense need the ball in critical situations, trust is hugely important to Sarkisian. It’s clear he trusts Milwee, not just for what he’s telling him, but the way he’s relaying information, which is critical for a play-calling head coach who wants to limit distractions in his ear and digest important information as quickly as possible.

It’s a role and responsibility Milwee doesn’t take lightly.

“There’s a guy I worked with before and he used to always say that it’s the economy of words,” Milwee said. “I don’t need to give a dissertation. Get to the point. Give him what he needs to know and then he’s going to go from there. He’s the best play-caller in the country. Give him the few things he needs to know and he’s going to make the adjustments and the calls the way he knows how to. Just give him the information he needs and he’ll go apply it.”

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[Jeff Howe]

I know we covered this last fall and again in the spring, but it's worth getting into because it's so important to Sark continuing to call plays. If he's going to do it, he's got to have a pair of eyes upstairs that he trusts and that will give him the information he needs to make the right calls.

Milwee going back to the press box wasn't solely responsible for the offense turning things around late last season. Still, it helped a ton and will hopefully help the offense avoid a slow start this season.

[HookedOnTF]

A little related discourse here seems to conclude that it depends!

 

 

 

[Toriel Pearl]

I think Mike bimonte is a guy that has the brightest future among the offensive assistants. With an explosive offensive year I could see him and AJ moving on to run sarks offense at another school. 

[Rick]

1 hour ago, HookedOnTF said:

A little related discourse here seems to conclude that it depends!

 

 

 

I think Sark on the sideline and Milwee in the booth gives the best of both approaches. Sark has the feel he gets from being close to the action and speaking directly to Arch and other players, and Milwee has the overhead view to see how everything develops.