Shane Buechele's 299-yard, two-touchdown performance during Texas' spring game has many Longhorn fans about the future of the Texas freshman quarterback.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 191-pound spring enrollee operated the Longhorns’ new offense under the direction of coordinator Sterlin Gilbert efficiently (22-of-41 passing) in Texas’ Orange-White Scrimmage last weekend. Buechele looked like a potential answer at the quarterback position Texas has searched so hard for this decade.

Buechele’s performance was impressive, but Texas head coach Charlie Strong wants the competition to continue. On the Big 12 coaches spring teleconference this week Strong reiterated his stance that Buechele will play this fall, but he said he still wants senior Tyrone Swoopes, sophomore Jerrod Heard and the other quarterbacks to continue to push each other.

“Well, the competition is still there at the quarterback position,” Strong said. “(Texas fans will) get a chance to see Shane. I just don’t know how early, but they’ll get that opportunity. Just no promises will be made.”

The summer is typically when quarterback battles are decided. Colt McCoy once famously pulled away from Jevan Snead during the summer of 2006 and never looked back.

It would certainly be premature to assume Buechele will take the same path as the winningest quarterback in program history, but Strong was complimentary throughout the spring of Buechele’s willingness to get in extra work with his receivers, his competitiveness and how impressed other players were with Buechele’s talent. While those are the kinds of qualities one looks for in a starting quarterback, Strong isn’t ready to peg Buechele as the man for the Longhorns at this time.

Swoopes’ spring game performance (4-for-16, 71 yards, two interceptions) did little to inspire confidence from the general public in his ability to lead the Longhorns. With that said, Swoopes improved throughout the course of the spring and has been more effective in Gilbert’s offense now that he’s able to truly play fast, sources with knowledge of Texas’ closed practices have told Horns247.

Those could be among the reasons why Strong, who also noted during the teleconference that Swoopes’ numbers didn’t tell the whole story of his performance, isn’t ready to dismiss a veteran with 14 starts under his belt from the equation.

“He had some drops,” Strong said. “There were more drops on his side than on Shane’s side.”

Heard, who started 10 games in 2015, suffered a shoulder injury this spring and missed most of the second half of spring practice, including the spring game. Strong said after the spring game that with Buechele, Heard and Swoopes he's gone from being completely unsure about the position to having the quarterback spot being the position where he felt the program made the biggest strides over the course of 15 on-field sessions this spring because of the competition.

Buechele figures to emerge as the best option for the Longhorns behind center at the end of the day. Nevertheless, Strong is going to continue to let the Texas quarterbacks duke out to let the best man ultimately win.