Steve Sarkisian provides update on Texas quarterback competition

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has a tough decision ahead of him. The competition between quarterbacks Casey Thompson and Hudson Card has been ongoing throughout preseason camp. As the start to the season nears, clarity on that competition is coming soon. Sarkisian was happy with how the quarterbacks played in Saturday’s scrimmage, especially in comparison to how they looked last weekend.

After a tough first scrimmage, Card and Thompson bounced back this week

Neither Thompson or Card played at the level that Sarkisian expects in last week’s scrimmage. Sarkisian thought that both signal-callers bounced back well and had a solid week of practice, and in turn had an improved performance in Saturday’s scrimmage.

“I thought they had a really good week,” Sarkisian said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “We challenged them after the first scrimmage and I thought they had a really good first three days coming off the scrimmage. Thursday maybe a little spotty, not quite where I wanted it. Came back and had a really good, crisp, clean practice yesterday and then both went out and performed well to the naked eye today. I thought they took care of the ball, our tempo was better offensively. Which is a lot on them, controlling the tempo, whether we’re using shifts in motions, whether we were trying to go fast, whatever that is they control if on the field.

“I thought they got completions and that’s half of the key to the drill in our system, is getting completions. We have to be able to get the ball to our players in space to allow them to make plays and then when the opportunity presents itself take those shots. But take the shots with being accurate and I thought they did that today. They’d really been doing it all week and that’s the positive sign.”

Sarkisian: Both quarterbacks played winning football on Saturday

In Saturday’s scrimmage, Sarkisian thought that Card and Thompson looked more comfortable within the offense. They trusted their offensive line and were able to be more accurate with the ball.

“I would say they played winning football today,” Sarkisian said. “That’s the standard, right? I mean they are putting us in a position to win games and they did that. First of all, that starts with taking care of the ball. The second aspect of that is managing the offense. I always laugh at the cliché of being a good game manager, but that’s a prerequisite for playing quarterback. The third thing, I thought they took advantage of the opportunities when they were there.

“So, I thought both of them played winning football. Probably the biggest thing that we did better today than last week, we got the ball out of our hands. We took some sacks last week, I didn’t think their eyes were great were last week and in turn we didn’t trust reads, we didn’t see coverages and we were late with the ball. Today I think they trusted their protection. They knew what was happening, they got the ball out of their hands on time and accurately. Which in turn, less sacks, but yet now moving the ball efficiently down the field.”

There is currently no timeline on announcing a starter

Sarkisian said that he wouldn’t rule out playing two quarterbacks in a game on a situational basis, but ideally you have one starter that plays the majority of the snaps. The hardest part about that is how difficult the two quarterbacks are making the decision for Sarkisian.

“The ideal world is you know sooner rather than later. I mean if I can put my head down on the pillow tonight and know who the starter is, that’s great,” Sarkisian said. “That would be ideal. As we maneuver through this week, we’ll see. I’ve got to go look at this tape and really evaluate some of the special situations and things that came up and how we operated in some areas where maybe I had some concern about one guy or the other. Was he able to handle those situations as they came?

“These guys have made it difficult. Outside of last Saturday when we just didn’t play great at quarterback, they’re performing pretty good. They’re making it hard and I appreciate that about them. Sooner rather than later is when I’d like to have that happen.”