Ja'Tavion Sanders focusing on 'intricate things' at Texas practice
Texas freshman Ja’Tavion Sanders is a unique talent. Rated as the No. 60 prospect in the 2021 class in On3’s 2021 Player Rankings, Sanders excelled on both sides of the ball in high school, tallying 1161 receiving yards along with four sacks during his senior year at Denton (Texas) Ryan.
He made his preference to play offense clear to both former head coach Tom Herman and current head coach Steve Sarkisian. Upon enrolling at the beginning of the summer, Sanders joined Jeff Banks’ tight ends room and began adding to his 6-foot-4 frame.
Now listed at 256 pounds, Sanders was seen working individually with Banks during the media viewing session of the Longhorns’ first spring practice. While other tight ends were running routes and catching passes from quarterbacks, Sanders, Banks, and walk-on tight end Nathan Hatter worked on the side. The focus? Getting the former blue-chip athlete prospect up to speed on blocking.
“Obviously, this was the first time we’ve been able to be on the field with him, him not being a mid-year (enrollee) and not being a spring ball (participant),” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We want to make sure we’re, as always, we’re trying to put our players in the best position to be successful, and practice is no different. There’s some intricate things that we need to work on with him individually to get him up to speed so that he could take the necessary reps throughout practice when we got into the team period.”
Sanders did not enroll early, but two fellow members of his class and position group arrived in Austin in January. Englewood (Colo.) Cherry Creek’s Gunnar Helm and Everman’s Juan Davis enrolled early and participated in spring drills.
For those two, their 15 practices put them in a position to be ready to take live snaps at tight end in scrimmage situations from the jump during training camp. For Sanders, Friday was the first time coaches worked with him with a helmet on.
Sarkisian, Banks, and the rest of the Texas coaches understand the level of prospect they have on their hands in Sanders. They also know in order to get to where they want him to be, it might take a little extra work to make him a polished product.
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“With Ja’Tavion, we had to get him work on some of the fundamentals that were needed to do some of the more intricate things down the road,” Sarkisian said. “We’re doing that at some other positions as well. We’re trying to do some individualized coaching in some of that individual period.”
Ja’Tavion Sanders’ penchant for offense nothing new
When Ja’Tavion Sanders committed to Texas on Sept. 8, 2019, he was coming off a 2018 season where he hauled in 23 catches for 378 yards and five touchdowns. He was mainly recruited as a defensive end following a 54-tackle, 9.5-sack campaign in his sophomore season.
He began to become more of a threat on offense for the Ryan Raiders during his junior season. His tackle total dipped to 14 in 13 games, but his offensive production almost doubled. He caught 41 catches for 683 yards in 2019, but that paled in comparison to his 2020.
Sanders caught 63 passes for 1161 yards and 16 touchdowns on the way to helping Ryan win the UIL 5A Div. 1 state championship. By that time, Sanders had penned his letter of intent and Sarkisian had been hired as Texas’ new head coach. His preference was clear, and the Texas coaches are offering individual instruction to help him succeed at his preferred spot.
