On Texas Football: What needs to be accomplished in the spring?
On the latest edition of On Texas Football, Inside Texas’s Bobby Burton and Paul Wadlington, a longtime writer for Inside Texas known online on Twitter at Scipio Tex, discussed the main takeaways from Texas football’s second season under Steve Sarkisian, the Longhorns’ work so far in the transfer portal and what Texas needs to get accomplished this spring.
[Get Inside Texas Plus until the start of the 2023 season for $29.99!]
Wadlington talked about the overall progress of the program, giving the Texas staff high marks for its adaptability, especially on offense, as the season went on.
“Look, Sark’s first year didn’t inspire a ton of confidence, buy now there are good reasons why that was the case,” Wadlington said. “But boy, if you didn’t see some sort of progress in the football team and the program, both individually and globally, holistically… I think you’re gonna have some people, frankly, sort of in wait-and-see mode.
“Texas is a Top 20 team in both offense and defense in advanced statistics, and that’s with a very inexperienced quarterback and with a rebuild defense in year two, which improved immeasurably.”
Burton talked about Sarkisian’s ability to respond to what the defenses were throwing at him and how to adjust from year to year. Wadlington concurred, saying the strides Texas’ offense made in 2022 sets up for even more improvement nest season.
“There’s plenty of coaches who say ‘we’re gonna win or lose the way I want to win or lose’ and ‘they need to adapt to me,’” Wadlington said. “I don’t think that’s Sark. I think he wants to do what he wants to do but as the team demonstrates that maybe they can he’s gonna adapt.”
Burton opined that the defense will be better even with some holes to fill because of graduation and transfers. “The Longhorns lose some guys but they also have some bullets in the gun to replace the players they lose,” he said.
Top 10
- 1New
Shilo Sanders
Lands with NFL team
- 2
Picks by Conference
The final tally in NFL Draft
- 3Trending
Mel Kiper
Eviscerates NFL: 'Clueless'
- 4
D.J. Uiagalelei
Signs NFL free agent deal
- 5Hot
Quinn Ewers drafted
Texas QB off the board
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Texas has a pair from secondary commitments from the portal but has been judicious with his pursuit of players that fill holes and fit into the Longhorns’ defensive scheme.
Wadlington said there is an indication that there is “tampering” in the portal, with most of those already decided on where they will go when they decide to transfer.
“I’m postmodern with regards to NCAA rules, like it’s just arbitrary,” Wadlington explained. “We’ve got to change our mindset about all that stuff.”
Wadlington said he is looking for the Longhorns’ experience to come to the forefront as Texas begins its third season under Sarkiaian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.
“I want to see them turn to page two and page three of the playbook and be able to make adjustments in games,” Wadlington said. “On defense, I want to see Kwiatkowski take away a limited offense that can only do one or two things because he’s able to take enough experienced players who understand the big picture and then run a specific game plan to stop them.”
