A look at the 85-man roster ahead of spring football
With Texas football spring practices set to start on Monday, March 6, taking stock of the scholarship players on the roster is in order.
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Texas will have 77 scholarship players when it takes the field, with a handful set to miss time as a result of injury. Steve Sarkisian’s program will have healthy numbers across several positions, including along the offensive line. That’s a change from not even a couple of years ago when there were barely enough offensive lineman to put together a two-deep.
Thanks to Inside Texas member biodogtexas, here’s a look at the current state of the roster (biodogtexas keeps track of the roster and changes in this thread on the Inside Texas Members Only board).
Players in italics are not yet on campus. Players in bold are transfer additions.
Players are grouped by their original signing class, i.e. their true freshman season. This chart features every possible player who could have potentially been on this roster if they had stayed at Texas to exhaust all of their eligibility. Hence, transfers, early departures, and medical retirements all are listed if they could have possibly still been on the team next season and their names are in light gray.
YC = Years in College – the number of seasons they’ve been on a team up to and including the 2023 season
RS = RedShirt years – total combined redshirt and covid years that don’t count towards a player’s 4 years of eligibility
ER = Eligibility Remaining – the number of seasons a player could possibly come back for after the 2023 seasonFor Example, David Gbenda signed in the 2019 class, so 2023 will be his 5th Year on Campus (YC). He “redshirted” 2 times, 1 Redshirt and 1 Covid season (RS) meaning that he will only be using his 3rd year of eligibility and will still have 1 season left (ER) after the 2023 season if he wants.
A look at individual positions
-Kyle Flood will have 14 offensive linemen available to him during the 15 spring practices considering Cole Hutson and Connor Robertson will miss time. That not only will give him additional data on candidates involved in the upcoming position battle at guard, but it will give early enrollees Andre Cojoe, Connor Stroh, Payton Kirkland, and Jaydon Chatman additional reps that will help in their year one development.
-The EDGE position is filled with players brought to campus by Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski, save for Barryn Sorrell. However, Sorrell found a fit in the Kwiatkowski defense and as the elder statesman by default, he should have a strong chance at solidifying his status as a first-string defender.
-Young wideouts will have plenty of opportunity to develop. With Isaiah Neyor still recovering and Brenen Thompson running track, early enrollees like Johntay Cook and DeAndre Moore will have chances to earn run, potentially even with the first-string offense.
Other thoughts
-The number is currently 88, but that’s not a problem for spring football. Texas only needs to be below the 85-man limit ahead of the season. In the era of the transfer portal, which has a second window from May 1 to May 15, that’s a number that is likely to be taken care of via regular attrition.
-Once fall camp starts, the majority of the roster will be players recruited to Texas by Sarkisian. Most of the 2021 class was signed by the time Sarkisian was hired. Between portal additions and those who signed in 2022 and 2023, Sarkisian will have a roster designed with his systems in mind.
-The numbers in the 2023 class indicate much about needs for the 2024 class. Notable areas include defensive tackle, cornerback, and wide receiver
