Steve Sarkisian explains how 2025 spring practices will look different compared to prior years

Spring practice is going to look a little bit different for the Texas Longhorns.

[Pre-order THE LONGHORN ALPHABET today and teach your little ones the A to Z of Texas Football!]

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, speaking with local media for the first time since the Longhorns’ loss in the 2025 Cotton Bowl Classic, explained what’s going to be different about the Longhorns’ spring drills ahead of the 2025 season. Sarkisian already has said there won’t be a classic spring game, something being replaced by a Fan Day on April 26th. But he hasn’t had the chance to explain what’s going to be different about the 14 practices leading up to that event.

He did on Monday, saying that the structure of practices is going to be altered in order to emphasize teaching while removing some of the physical hits taken on by his players in the wake of 30 games over two years. In other words, it will look like NFL OTAs.

One of the major changes for a sizable portion of those practices? Just one field of reps as opposed to two-spotting like in previous practice sessions. Two-spotting means the first- and third-stringers operating on one half of the field while the second- and fourth-stringers work on the other.”

“This spring, especially early on, we’re going to be on one field,” Sarkisian said Monday. “We’ve got some new faces, like I said, as coaches. We’ve got a lot of news faces on our roster that I feel like we all need to be in accord in working that way.

“Maybe minimizing some of the team reps, especially for our older players, and really getting some of these new faces involved and giving me an opportunity to evaluate all the players that are there, but also help our coaches get caught up to speed with who we are, what we do, and why we do what we do.”

Texas has a number of new coaches, namely Mark Orphey, Duane Akina, and Chad Scott. Sarkisian said that trio, in addition to the rest of the returning assistant staff, will have chances to teach more during practice. Sarkisian mentioned longer individual periods, portions of practices where it’s just the coach in charge of that position working with the players. He also mentioned more teaching periods.

The changes will result, at least in some form, in fewer large-scale, full-contact team drills. But that doesn’t mean those team drills or even fully-padded scrimmages are going away completely.

“We will still incorporate team periods as we get going into spring practice,” Sarkisian said. “We’ll still have competitive sessions. We’ll still have a couple of scrimmages throughout spring. They’re just going to be a little bit more controlled as opposed to we’re going to go out and have a 140-play scrimmage on a Saturday afternoon. I feel like it’s really important every day that we take the field that we’re teaching and then have those scrimmage portions.”

Texas begins practice on Tuesday, March 25, the first week after UT-Austin’s spring break. The Longhorns will practice three times a week for five weeks. Sarkisian said three of those weeks will be Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday and two will be Monday-Wednesday-Friday, though he declined to explain when those weeks would be.

For the Longhorns, those practice opportunities are going to be critical in figuring out how to replace the 14 players sent to the NFL Scouting Combine and others likely to be picked in the upcoming NFL Draft.

“It’s easy to look at numbers and say we’ve got a ton to replace,” Sarkisian said. “We do. But we’ve also got some guys and some key ingredients that played some critical roles for us last season that I think will be impactful for us this fall.”

Sarkisian mentioned that he often visits NFL teams during the offseason in order to learn how to better manage his program. One of the things he noted is that the NFL teaches its players well. Part of the reason the league has that reputation is due to the unlimited number of assistant coaches franchises can have. That change has made its way to college football, as Texas now has specific coaches for positions like Star (nickel corner) and EDGE.

Those coaches, Sarkisian, and the entirety of the Longhorns’ coaching staff will have to do things a little bit differently this spring to get Arch Manning and the rest of the 2025 Longhorns ready for the season opening matchup with Ohio State on August 30 during these spring drills. But it’s an adaptation they’ve been prepared for since the final whistle blew against the Buckeyes in January.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY for just ONE DOLLAR!]

“I feel like you have to, in this day and age, be adaptable and not be afraid of change,” Sarkisian said. “I think this is an area where we can grow as a program to be better suited for the challenges of the schedule as we know what it was last season.”