With the 2011 season firmly in the books, the Texas Longhorns will have some time off before returning to the practice field for the spring in what will be their second year of Mack Brown’s “Brick-by-Brick” rebuilding mantra.

Following the 2011 offseason that provided a generous helping of cautious optimism, Texas reeled off an 8-5 campaign, complete with a bowl win and a slew of both welcomed and unwelcomed surprises. With a full season under the belts of a handful of new assistant coaches, the 2012 Longhorns are in a position to take bigger steps towards guiding the program back to national prominence.

Texas loses just five starters from its base packages on offense and defense, meaning the Longhorns return a wealth of experience, youth and depth next season in an effort to contend for the Big 12.

In a look forward, we’ll break it down by unit, then take a glimpse at what next season could hold for the rejuvenated Longhorns.

Offense
Key Returners: Malcolm Brown, Joe Bergeron, Jaxon Shipley, Marquise Goodwin, D.J. Monroe, Josh Cochran, Trey Hopkins, Mason Walters
Newcomers who could be factors: Johnathan Gray, Cayleb Jones, Donald Hawkins
X-factor: David Ash

The most glaring strength for the Longhorns next season undoubtedly rests with the running game. Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron will take the reins as the featured backs in a power ground game that can challenge to be the Big 12’s best.

In Johnathan Gray—the top running back in the state of Texas in the 2012 class—the Longhorns get one of most explosive tailbacks in burnt orange since Jamaal Charles and will serve as a great change of pace back and possibly a successor to Fozzy Whittaker to run the Wildcat formation.

Throw in D.J. Monroe and the Longhorns will have a running game that can square up to some of the best ground games in the country.

Wide receiver will be a position that will fluctuate depending on the play from the quarterback. The Longhorns will have Jaxon Shipley and Marquise Goodwin to lead a pretty raw and deep group of pass catchers. Incomer Cayleb Jones—an Austin native—could have a chance to contribute immediately. Part of the reason why the Texas passing game struggled last season was the lack of sure-handed receivers who could run precise routes and find holes in the defense. If guys like Mike Davis and Miles Onyegbule can put in the time, the Longhorns definitely have one of the most talented receivers corps in the conference.

The Longhorns will enter the offseason with both the quarterback and offensive line positions stuck in similar quandaries. There have been a few flashes of brilliance, but there is plenty of room for development—growth that could take this team to an entirely different level.

At signal caller, Texas looks to be sticking to its guns with David Ash and Case McCoy. Both have had ups and downs, but it appears that Ash will have the extra leg up after a solid outing in the Holiday Bowl in December. Also, the latest rumors have Case McCoy transferring sometime next season. Still, let’s keep it all in perspective. Without some tremendous development at the position, the Longhorns could face similar problems in 2012.

As for incoming freshmen Connor Brewer and Jalen Overstreet, the likelihood of either coming in to press for placement on the two-deep seems improbable.

In the trenches, there is definitely room for excitement.

Mason Walters returns as the clear-cut leader up front. He has shown to be vocal on a number of occasions and is not afraid to demand some accountability from his peers.

Josh Cochran took big steps as a starter at left tackle after snatching the job from Tray Allen, and as Cochran enters his sophomore season, Texas should have every reason to believe he will hold his place and move forward from there. Dom Espinosa, Trey Hopkins and Sedrick Flowers round out the interior of the line, but their youth stood out like sore thumbs last season.

Donald Hawkins comes in as a highly touted JUCO transfer and an asset that should see time right away opposite Cochran at right tackle.

In their second year under Bryan Harsin’s offense, the Longhorns will be expected to produce at more efficient and effective levels in 2012. The running game will be there, but how dominant the offense will be is entirely reliant on the development of the quarterback and a still young offensive line.

Defense
Key Returners: Alex Okafor, Jackson Jeffcoat, Jordan Hicks, Carrington Byndom, Quandre Diggs, Kenny Vaccaro
Newcomers who could be factors: Malcom Brown, Bryson Echols, Kendall Sanders, Brandon Moore
X-factor: Jordan Hicks

For a defensive unit that loses the likes of Blake Gideon—a four-year starter at safety—Keenan Robinson and Emmanuel Acho at linebacker and Kheeston Randall at defensive tackle, the Longhorns may actually improve going into next season.

Texas returns five starters who were underclassmen in 2011, and even more saw some snaps here and there throughout the season—meaning the Longhorns are in a much better position depth- and experience-wise in 2012.

The headliners for Manny Diaz’s second-year defense come as some of the Big 12’s top performers in 2011.

Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat should challenge as a couple of the conference’s top defensive ends who will claim all-Big-12 honors. Carrington Byndom and Quandre Diggs could do the same at cornernback, and Kenny Vaccaro returned for his senior season to lay some more wood. As long as Duane Akina is coaching the defensive backs, we should never question the output.

At defensive tackle, a turntable of Ashton Dorsey, Calvin Howell, Chris Whaley, Desmond Jackson and JUCO transfer Brandon Moore should provide enough bodies to create mayhem up the gut.

Linebacker could be the most intriguing position of all for the Longhorns. With the departure of Acho and Robinson, Texas loses a couple of its most serviceable backers in the last two seasons. But waiting in the wings are a trio of players that should have the Texas program giddy with excitement. What Jordan Hicks, Steve Edmond and Demarco Cobbs truly lack in experience, they make up for in talent. Only time will tell what kind of production to expect from them. It is their time to shine.

It seems silly to think that, with the number of returning players and the type of talent they bring with them, none of the incoming freshman will be able to make a dent in the depth chart. However, Malcom Brown (not Malcolm Brown), Bryson Echols and Kendall Sanders—should he take to the defensive backfield—all possess the type of workmanship and talent to see a couple of snaps early.

There may not be a more exciting time for the Texas defense than now.

Special Teams
Key Returners: Quandre Diggs
Newcomers who could be factors: Nick Jordan
X-factor: William Russ (i.e. Justin Tucker’s replacement)

However fatigued he may have been at the end of the season, the Longhorns will miss Justin Tucker’s leg and his ability to handle both kicking and punting duties. By the same token, nobody matched Fozzy Whittaker’s aptitude in the return game, but Diggs has proven to be reliable at the least.

Incoming freshman kicker Nick Jordan performed brilliantly in the UnderArmour All-America Game last week, but can he beat out will-be sophomore Will Russ as the primary option on special teams?

As far as coverage teams is concerned, it will be hard for the Longhorns to do much worse than they did in 2011. But for a Texas program that has consistently fielded one of the top special teams units under Mack Brown, the standard is still very high and needs to be realized.

A Look into 2012

The Longhorns will have Wyoming, New Mexico and Mississippi as their out of conference matchups in 2012. While they are not exactly the prime rib of opposition, they will provide ample opportunities for Texas to warm-up before its Oct. 6 contest with Oklahoma in Dallas and its Oct. 13 matchup with new-look Oklahoma State.

With the departures of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, and the arrivals of West Virginia and TCU to the Big 12, several of the Longhorns’ conference games have yet to be slated, though it should have little impact on how Texas will prepare for the season.

The onus undoubtedly will be on the offense.

Texas will boast a defense that should be feared throughout the conference, and perhaps even the country, so much of the success can be dictated by how well the offense—most notably the offensive line and quarterback—progresses from this point forward.

Mack Brown and his assistants have the Texas program in a position for long-term success, but only if a few more pieces fall into place. They have a handful of veterans mixed with experienced and talented youth—thanks to the 2011 campaign—and a healthy load of more youngsters waiting to get their shot.

In the next wave of Longhorns, expect to see some flashes in limited roles from guys like Sheroid Evans, Leroy Scott, Mykkele Thompson and Josh Turner, among others, all who just so happen to play in the defensive backfield. Offensively, all the pieces appear to be in place, but the coaches will be relying heavily on the development of a couple of them for the group to explode.

The Bottom Line Prediction

Going from 5-7 to 8-5 is a step in the right direction after several coaching changes that brought about an entirely new atmosphere at Texas. Coupled with a few more housecleaning items (see Darius White), the attitude around the Forty Acres is all-in or get out.

The defense is in a position to rank in the top 5 nationally, and the prospects of a second season under Diaz has to have Texas fans on the edge of their seats during the offseason just waiting for any little nugget of information to tickle their fancy.

Offensively, Ash or McCoy simply has to get it done. With the kind of talent the Longhorns have on offense, and the type of defense they will field, Texas cannot afford to go through another season of quarterback controversy and potentially burning a redshirt opportunity for its freshmen quarterbacks.

Texas may very well have a national championship-caliber defense. But if the offense lags behind again, the Longhorns could miss out on a BCS appearance. A 10-2 mark is not out of the realm of possibility, but neither is 8-4. So let’s take the middle ground—the 2012 Longhorns will finish 9-3.

Is Texas another season away from recovering from its tumble down to the Big 12 cellar a season ago? Or has Mack Brown made the right moves to put the program back on top?

Stay tuned.

* This is part three of our series recapping the 2011 football season for the Texas Longhorns. The two previous parts to this series, "Longhorns Season in Review" and "Texas Longhorns: Final Grades" can be found under at www.readthehorn.com/sports.