Steve Sarkisian says the Longhorns' opening Spring practice "was a pretty good first day."
With a Southeastern Conference film crew at the Frank Denius Fields, the Texas Longhorns donned their helmets and bussed to the UT practice grounds for the first time in 2024 on Tuesday. It marked the beginning of a 14-practice and one Spring game journey, a beginning Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was pleased with when speaking with reporters after practice.
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“For us, this was a pretty good first day,” Sarkisian said. “I’m always hesitant to lay too much praise after one practice like I’m always a little hesitant to be too, too critical after one practice. I thought it was pretty evident the energy was really good out there at practice. It was pretty evident the amount of depth that we had. This is the most numbers that we’ve had in a spring practice since we’ve been here.”
Sarkisian mentioned because of those sheer numbers created by the influx of early enrollees and transfers in addition to the returners from the 2023 season, his program was able to “two-spot” with multiple iterations of the same drills and team work taking place at the same time. Sarkisian mentioned that ones, twos, threes, and even fourth-string players were able to get reps and improve.
That said, there’s a lot more progress to be made as the Longhorns evolve out of their “underwear” into shoulder pads before strapping up their fully-padded uniform.
“We don’t play football in underwear, right? We play it in armor,” Sarkisian said.
It’s early in the practice process with April 20’s Orange-White game just over one month away. Players will have the opportunity to add to their skill set, put themselves in position to move up the depth chart in preseason, or just get acclimated to what life as a college football player is like.
Despite being in the early days of Spring football, Sarkisian could see the makings of a team that, like last year, was versatile in ways it could attack or defend opponents.
“I think we have that as well again this year,” Sarkisian said about versatility. “Just as a team in general, I don’t think we’re going to be a one-dimensional team that’s going to have to rely on one phase of the game to be overly dominant. I’d love for all three phases to do that.
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“When the dust settles, we’re going to be a really good offensive team that will have balance. I think we’re going to be a very good defensive football team that’s going to have some versatility in man, zone, and pressure things. I think we’re going to be really good on special teams.”
Texas will be back on the practice field on Thursday then again on Saturday before starting the process all over again next Tuesday. It’s been a long time since January 1, when a number of players last put their Longhorn helmets and burnt orange and white jerseys of any sort on.
Since that moment, Sarkisian sensed his team had prepared well. When it came time to put the preparation to the test on Tuesday, he was pleased with the outcome. One down, 14 to go.
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“I though the coaches really demanding the fundamentals and the techniques that are needed in all three phases – offense, defense, and special teams – was evident as well today,” Sarkisian said. “But again, there are a ton of things that we need to get better at and we need to work on. For a first day, spring practice, I was definitely pleased.”
