The Texas football offense just wouldn’t ignite. Throughout the month of October, its flame flickered and failed, unable to catch the requisite spark.
Enter a healthy Isaiah Bond, holding all the fresh tinder the Longhorns needed.
The star wide receiver left Texas’ Oct. 12 victory over Oklahoma with an injury. He gave it a go the following week against Georgia, but clearly wasn’t himself as the Longhorns’ offense sputtered to a halt. He sat out Texas’ win against Vanderbilt on Oct. 26, with coach Steve Sarkisian hoping to use a Week 10 bye week to maximize Bond’s recovery time.
Against Florida on Saturday, Bond returned in full force. And the Texas offense exploded after spending weeks failing to catch fire.
“Whenever he’s on the field, you gotta kind of spread out your coverage to guard all of the guys we have out there that are so dynamic and so hard to guard,” Texas center Jake Majors said postgame. “So being able to have him on the field is such an advantage for us because we get to spread everybody out and we get to pick and choose who we want to go after.”
Bond caught three passes for 55 yards and a touchdown in his return, helping the Longhorns to a 49-17 win over the Gators. He also carried an end-around for 44 yards on the ground.
CED’S TAKE:Texas football’s defense takes center stage in Florida beatdown | Golden
The Alabama transfer broke off two different plays of 30 or more yards, and 43 of his 55 receiving yards came after the catch.
“It’s kind of what I’m here for, to make explosive plays,” Bond said postgame. “So it’s nothing really surprising or anything.
“God gave me a lot of talent, athleticism-wise, to just be a little faster than most people.”
The Texas offense entered Saturday with 11 plays of 40 yards or more on the season ‒ which equates to roughly 1.4 plays a game. The Longhorns (8-1, 4-1 SEC) broke off four such plays against the Gators (4-5, 2-4).
Texas posted over eight yards per play for the first time in more than a month – the last time Bond was healthy. The Longhorns are averaging 7.52 yards per play with a healthy Bond and 5.08 yards per play with Bond out or limited.
Texas vs Florida: Longhorns dominate in first game after inaugural CFP rankings reveal
It’s good news for Texas, then, that Bond said postgame that he feels 100%.
Including his production from Saturday, Bond is up to 435 receiving yards on the season. His impact stretches beyond those numbers.
“What he does is add to the speed factor that we have on offense,” Sarkisian said. “DeAndre Moore’s got elite speed. Jaydon Blue played really fast today. (Quintrevion) Wisner played fast. And so when we can spread the field a little bit and not feel like it’s so condensed and hard. We want people to feel our speed. We want people to fear our speed. When they play (the safeties) back, now some of those underneath things, we can create space for our guys to catch and run.”
It’s the Texas coaching staff’s job to scheme players into space like they did on Saturday. Bond’s presence makes that easier.
But for those efforts to pay off, Sarkisian explained, the Longhorns need buy-in from every member of the offense.
“It’s the players’ job to play as 11,” Sarkisian said. “Those plays can’t happen without selfless blocks on the perimeter for that stuff to come to life.”
