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Steve Sarkisian confirms Texas will not have a spring game

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•02/20/25•

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Arch Manning (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed on Thursday during an appearance on the Up and Adams Show that the Longhorns will not hold a traditional Orange-White Game in 2025. Inside Texas reported earlier in February that the Longhorns were unlikely to host the spring game.

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“No, we’re not going to have a spring game,” Sarkisian said. “A couple of reasons why. Over the last two years, we’ve played 30 games. That’s a lot for college football. Fourteen two years ago, 16 this year. I just mentioned, we’ve had 25 guys get invited to the NFL Combine the last two years, so we have a lot of young players on our roster. We have 21 mid-year high school kids that just showed up.

“The development that’s needed for these guys need to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be. Our approach is going to be a little more NFL driven, kind of more of an OTA style early on as we grow into more of the scrimmage formats in the second half of spring ball. I just don’t know (if) rolling the ball out and playing the game when we only get 15 practices is the best for us to maximize the opportunities that we get. It’s going to be a little bit of a different approach, but I think college football is changing right now. We need to do a great job as coaches of adapting to college football. That’s what we’re trying to do, and I think that’s going to be good for our team.”

The spring game last season was an opportunity for quarterbacks like Arch Manning and Trey Owens to steal the spotlight after Quinn Ewers played the requisite amount of snaps Sarkisian believed he needed in order to get ready for the 2024 offseason. Manning was 19-for-25 for 355 yards and three touchdowns, while Owens was 14-for-21 for 228 yards and three touchdowns.

Sarkisian said Manning will have to earn the starting role, but said so with a smile and with a tone that indicated Manning is going to be the first string quarterback come August 30 in Columbus versus Ohio State.

“It’d be pretty tough for me to say he’s not going to be our starting quarterback,” Sarkisian said.

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A start date for spring practices has not yet been announced.

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