Sam Ehlinger knows the noise is there, because it would be impossible not to. Baker Mayfield calling him out, Terry Bradshaw soon following. The inevitable hype building over Texas, the inevitable questions swirling around him.

He doesn’t seem to care.

“We’re confident, hungry,” Texas’ rising junior quarterback told reporters at Big 12 media days. “We’re not an extremely exuberant bunch that’s gonna proclaim all these things, but we’re confident. We know inside or locker room, inside our walls, what we’re capable of.”

Mayfield said last month in a radio interview that he’s “sick of that crap” while discussing the preseason hype for Ehlinger and the Longhorns. Mayfield, who won a Heisman Trophy with rival Oklahoma, also played at an Austin high school which is a rival of the one Ehlinger played for. Bradshaw recently said Ehlinger “ain’t that good.”

Ehlinger helped get Texas back to national relevancy last season with a Red River Rivalry win over Oklahoma, the Big 12 Championship Game (which it lost to the Sooners), and a Sugar Bowl win. In Tom Herman’s second season in charge, that constituted success in Austin.

Now, of course, the bar gets higher. And Ehlinger is at the center of the hype.

“Once I get between the white lines, my competitive spirit takes over,” Ehlinger said. “It all sounds good when we’re talking about it right here, but once I strap up, when the bullets are flying, it’s hard to change.”

The criticism, according to Ehlinger, flew over his head. According to Herman, perhaps not.

“I do know … our guys file certain things away,” Herman said. “… Sam loves to play with a chip on his shoulder, and I’m sure he’ll use this to crank it up a notch.”