On Saturday, the Texas Longhorns held the first scrimmage of preseason camp at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, an important milestone with the season three weeks away as Steve Sarkisian’s team participated in a game-like environment, although there was not a game plan, the Longhorns head coach said during a media availability afterwards.
Given the level of contact in scrimmages, the biggest priority is always getting through it without any significant injuries, and while Sarkisian said that there were some “bumps and bruises,” he did not provide any indication that any Texas players sustained notable injuries.
There were a number of players who missed the scrimmage due to the flu, which has impacted the team this week — wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon, defensive lineman Justus Terry, edge/linebacker Brad Spence, linebacker Rasheem Biles, linebacker Ty’Anthony Smith, who also missed some practice time this week, and cornerback John Meredith.
As is often the case during the first scrimmage, the defense was slightly ahead of the offense thanks to some highlight plays that included an interception by safety Jonah Williams in the end zone and a 75-yard return by cornerback Graceson Littleton after an interception in the red zone.
But the offense did also come up with some explosive plays, including touchdown passes by each quarterback. Wide receivers Ryan Wingo and Cam Coleman both had long touchdown catches, running back Raleek Brown caught a touchdown from KJ Lacey, and Dia Bell connected with wide receiver Kohan Brown for a score.
The format didn’t always help some of the starters, as Sarkisian held out Coleman, Wingo, wide receiver Emmett Mosley, and quarterback Arch Manning after the first series before inserting them again for a red-zone possession prior to their return for the second half. It resulted in what Sarkisian described as an “up and down” performance by Manning.
“I don’t think that’s really indicative of him being out in the spring. I thought he’s had a great first week and a half of training camp — I’ve been extremely impressed. Probably wasn’t as fair to him today,” said Sarkisian. “I wanted them to almost feel like an NFL preseason game one. But at the same token, when we went to thud tempo and it wasn’t live, I wanted to try to get him reps, and those reps didn’t come until the second half. So I think he can play cleaner than he played today, and a little bit more efficient, a little bit more accurate, but there were also some high-level plays that were made, too.”
So while there’s a higher level of consistency that the Texas head coach is seeking from his starting quarterback, he also believes that a change in format for the second scrimmage next week should benefit Manning.
“Thought the running game was pretty good offensively, and saw some things from the young guys there,” said Sarkisian, who later praised the development of running back Derrek Cooper.
Three different offensive line groupings played on Saturday, with Laurence Seymore receiving the start at left guard next to the long-projected starters — Trevor Goosby at left tackle, Connor Robertson at center, Brandon Baker at right guard, and Melvin Siani at right tackle. Sarkisian said that Dylan Sikorski, the primary competition for Seymore at left guard, also received plenty of playing time.
“I was really encouraged with the first offensive line unit, in that we’ve been harping on physicality and we’ve been harping on running the ball all off season, and I thought they did that today,” said Sarkisian. “I thought they played a physical brand of football. I thought they protected the quarterback well. I thought they showed good continuity with one another, which is always something.”
When the first-team players rotated out, however, the second-team offensive line did pick up some penalties in the second half.
“How do we bring our twos along as well? Those linemen that are maybe seven, eight, nine in the rotation, so that if their numbers call, they can they can function and operate at a high level if their numbers called as well,” said Sarkisian.
With the staff also limiting players like edge Colin Simmons and linebacker Justin Cryer, newcomers received plenty of reps, especially at the linebacker position.
“You think about a Tyler Atkinson, a Kosi Okpala, a Rocky Cummings, these reps were invaluable for those guys. You take a guy late in the portal in Darius Snow, days like today you’re really, really glad you got him because he’s a smart football player, he’s savvy, he can get in there and go play,” said Sarkisian.
“I thought from a special team standpoint, I thought we punted the ball very well today, and I think Gio [Spetic] was 4-for-5 on field goals, or maybe even 5-for-6 with a long of 49, missed his first one. We’ve got to look at the snap-hold operation, but I thought that was good,” Sarkisian said.
From a wide-angle perspective, Sarkisian was satisfied with the scrimmage.
“I didn’t see anybody today that I felt like the moment was too big, and that’s big going into our first scrimmage. Now we need to be better next Saturday, and I just told the team that individually we’ve all got to take a step forward,” said Sarkisian. “We’ve all got to continue to improve so that we can get better as a team, because we’re not a finished product, but I do think for a week and a half into training camp, today served as a good kind of barometer for where we’re at, where our weaknesses are, where we need to improve, where our strengths are that we can lean into.
With game week now two weeks away, Sarkisian wants to solidify the two-deep depth chart heading into next week’s scrimmage.
“In the same breath, everybody on the roster has got to understand nothing’s set in stone — players earn opportunities throughout a season at any juncture, at any moment,” said Sarkisian. “And so we’re never going to stop pushing, we’re never going to stop trying to develop those guys to become what they can be, and we’ve seen that time and time again. We’ve seen injuries occur, and all the different stuff that that we’ve seen go on as the season goes on.