Steve Sarkisian delivers impression of Texas roster through week of practice, depth at quarterback

Year Two of the Steve Sarkisian era is underway for the Texas Longhorns, with four spring practices under their belt thus far. In what has been a season of turnover with the roster, the team that runs out of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will look different than the one from last season.

Sarkisian was asked about his impression of the roster more than a week into spring practice. He talked about how the defensive side has more depth than the offensive and even dropped a nugget about the quarterback position.

“The one thing I think that jumps out — and I know this is going to change dramatically come the fall — we just got more depth on defense than we do offensively because of the midyears,” Sarkisian said. “The majority of our midyears were on the defensive side of the ball. I’m monitoring our offense kind of as we go. We don’t have a great deal of depth at wideout. We don’t have a great deal of depth on the offensive line. Really, at quarterback, not having Maalik (Murphy). That part, got to monitor through four practices now as we go and make sure we’re not just wearing these guys out.”

Steve Sarkisian discusses defensive after practice

After giving a general overview of the roster, Sarkisian really went in-depth on his team.

He started by focusing on the defensive side of the ball, talking about things Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit is doing well four practices in. Sarkisian said the Longhorns have been fairly aggressive but still have a few things to work on. Mainly in the run game, where the head coach wants to be able to stop opposing running backs at all times. Even in passing scenarios.

“Defensively, I think we’re playing a really aggressive brand of football right now,” Sarkisian said. “We got to make sure not just when we know they’re running it but we still got to have the ability to play the run regardless of the situation. And then, adjust to the pass when that time comes. It’s been a good first four days. I think for the most part, everyone is making solid strides. Some guys are just doing it quicker than others.”

Moving to the offensive side of the ball

Next Sarkisian really got into his area of expertise and his offense. He touched on both how the wide receivers are processing and spent more time talking about the run game. Having a top running back in the country in Bijan Robinson, you would think this would not be an issue. However, Sarkisian says there is still work to be done.

“I think we’re a lot tighter, coverage wise but I also think our receivers are really trying to get open. I feel like, in Year Two now, they’re not just running the install, running the drawings. They’re actually really working the routes and the top of the routes to get themselves open. So there’s really good competition going on there. Run game-wise, what we need to keep improving offensively is, when the defense knows we’re going to run it, we’re having a hard time. When we can mix it up, run and pass, offensively we have a little bit more success.”

Sarkisian will have a few more works to fix the problems he sees with each unit until the team goes on summer break. Once the spring game takes place, he will not be able to facilitate a practice until the fall semester. Some big practices are ahead of the head coach to get his guys fully developed.