As Texas football prepares for a game week, another receiver vies for playing time.
The countdown to Texas’ 2024 football season began 12 days ago on Monday, but the Longhorns are preparing as if it will start far sooner.
Texas is handling this week as if it were a game week, according to head coach Steve Sarkisian, who spoke with reporters Monday following practice inside the Moncrief Athletics Complex. This implies that practices and meetings have been organised as though courses were in session. Texas will host a simulation game Saturday to handle substitutions and circumstances, and it will begin at 2:30 p.m., the same time that UT will take off against Colorado State on August 31.
This will be UT’s third scrimmage of the fall camp. As for this past weekend, Sarkisian stated, “I was thrilled because I felt like we made progress from one week to the next. That is often difficult to assess because you are looking at all three stages of your squad, including depth, rather than simply frontline players. It just felt faster, like we were more efficient, like we were moving at a greater offensive pace, and I believe that forced more communication from our defence, which we needed.”
Sarkisian noted that his staff is determining who will be crucial players on special teams. He also stated that after committing five turnovers at the first scrimmage on August 10, the offence handed up the ball only once this past weekend.
Here are three more details from Sarkisian’s media availability:
Texas wide receiver Ryan Niblett did not make a reception in 2023, but the former four-star prospect, shown celebrating a catch for a first down at the Orange-White spring game, has impressed during autumn training, according to head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Another wide receiver emerges.
Texas is expected to open the season with six receivers who might get plenty of playing time: transfers Isaiah Bond (Alabama), Silas Bolden (Oregon State), and Matthew Golden (Houston), sophomores Johntay Cook II and DeAndre Moore Jr., and freshman Ryan Wingo. On Monday, Sarkisian mentioned Ryan Niblett.
Niblett, like Cook and Moore, is a second-year receiver. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Houston native was a four-star talent in 2023. He played three games last season but did not register any statistics.
“Ryan Niblett has really come on here in the last week, week-and-a-half, and I have been very impressed with him, not only offensively, but also on special teams,” Sarkisian told the media. “That is a compliment to him. I told him that I was really pleased of him for continuing to work on the pitch today.”
In terms of whether a genuine depth chart has evolved among his receivers, Sarkisian believes he should focus more on mixing, matching, and determining the best combination of receivers for specific calls. When asked if Texas would be able to substitute three receivers at once, he stated that the Longhorns could “very easily do that.”
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian stated the Longhorns will treat this week as if it were a regular-season game week, with classes taking place. This includes daily meetings, their regular practice routine, and a scrimmage on Saturday, which will begin at the same time as the August 31 opening.
How physical is practice for the Texas running backs?
Following the season-ending injuries suffered by running backs CJ Baxter and Christian Clark during practice, the plans for surviving backs Jaydon Blue, Quintrevion Wisner, and Jerrick Gibson are of particular interest. Do running back sessions now include “no contact” workouts?
Running back practices are not strictly “no contact,” according to Sarkisian. Instead, backs can make contact with defensive players but are not permitted to be fully tackled. He emphasised the need of the backs continuing to practise getting struck and holding onto the ball.
“We’re trying to keep them from going to the ground,” Sarkisian remarked. “That would be not a whole lot different than we normally would be.”
Since Baxter and Clark were injured, Sarkisian considered having a player transfer positions, and walk-on running back Colin Page has received some looks. The possibility of Texas opting out of the transfer portal was also discussed on Monday, and Sarkisian did not totally dismiss the idea.
“We definitely have a (roster) spot that we can utilise,” Sarkisian stated. “A lot of times this late in the game, it’s probably not a typical transfer, but rather a graduate transfer or something similar. We’re kind of considering all of our possibilities there. We just do not want to take a body just for the sake of taking a corpse. If there is someone who can help us in some form, whether it is a small or large role, we are considering all options.”
Texas defensive lineman Bill Norton walks down the field during the first football practice of the season on July 31 at Denius Fields.
Sarkisian praises his defensive lineman.
With T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II now in the NFL, the interior of UT’s defensive line will be a topic of conversation all season. Sarkisian was thrilled by what he saw this month from veterans Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton. He stated that Collins and Broughton’s steps were equivalent to Sweat’s jump during the current Tennessee Titan’s final year on college, as well as the strides taken in 2022 by exiting seniors Moro Ojomo and Keondre Coburn.
What about transfers Bill Norton (Arizona), Tiaoalii Savea (Arizona), and Jermayne Lole (Louisville)?
“The three transfer guys, I’ve seen really good, steady growth,” he added. “Everybody comes from a different program and how they work and how they practise and the expectation of them, but between Bill, Jermayne and Tia, I’ve seen them really start to grow and step up and play our style of football, which has been extremely helpful.”
Last season, Texas allowed 82.4 rushing yards per game, the third-lowest mark in the country.
