The Texas Longhorns' first Monday practice after the bye week didn't lack for intensity

Heading out of the bye week, the last thing a football team wants to do is make a sluggish return to the field. Texas spent most of the second off week of the year focusing on brotherhood and self-care, with personnel groups hitting up bowling alleys, restaurants, and even a local turkey leg truck.

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There were certain on-field points of emphasis, of course, most notably penalties along the offensive line and in the secondary. However, the Longhorns’ bye week was a time to give players a chance to rest their bodies and live in normalcy for a weekend ahead of a critical stretch run to end the regular season.

What Texas fans should most be happy about when listening closely to head coach Steve Sarkisian and his players in Monday’s press availabilities was just how much this first practice back mattered to the team.

“What I loved about today’s practice was the spirit, the energy, the intent,” Sarkisian said. “I thought there was a real sense of urgency at practice. There was real intent. You could hear us at practice today, you know, and that was something we challenged them on, that we didn’t want the bye week to bleed into game week.”

From all accounts, Texas brought the heat to the first practice of the week leading into a matchup against Florida, one of the teams that embodies why the SEC is different from the Big 12. Florida is a .500 team that may be down two quarterbacks, but the Gators nearly outplayed the Georgia Bulldogs on a neutral field last Saturday despite what the final score ended up saying. The Gators also just narrowly missed a road win at Tennessee a few weeks prior in an overtime battle.

When Texas faced an average Big 12 team, say a squad like last year’s BYU, they would face flawed interiors and teams that lacked a considerable amount of big recruiting stars or athletes.

Florida, on the other hand, features some of the biggest, most athletic players in the entire nation in their trenches.

Even with the Gators as a bottom-five SEC team so far this season, the Billy Napier and company have brought in three-straight top 20 recruiting classes with talent improving incrementally each year. Texas will be facing former four- and five-star recruits and athletic talents at almost every position on the field, meaning intense practices are key to starting the week off right.

This level of intensity also resonated with the players. Senior EDGE Barryn Sorrell is one of the leaders on the Texas defense, and he was one of the loudest voices in the middle of relentless practices in preparation for Florida.

“I know I have to bring a different type of energy to the team and to everybody,” Sorrell said. “So once we got there on the practice field, I’m bringing that type of energy, like, let’s win the game today. And that’s the biggest message. Let’s not wait until Thursday or Wednesday to get it going, let’s bring it today.”

Sorrell certainly practices what he preaches. The veteran noted that he and junior guard DJ Campbell were going back and forth all morning, explaining how that matchup plus the leadership of junior safety Michael Taaffe radiated throughout the whole team.

Kelvin Banks answered a similar question about his toughest matchup in practice, with Sorrell unsurprisingly being his answer. But a name to look out when it comes to stout competitive fire is freshman EDGE Colin Simmons.

“Colin likes to talk a little trash as well,” Banks said. “We really burned the intensity today at practice and could kind of feel it especially with them two guys (Sorrell and Campbell) going at it and going back and forth with each other.”

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The Longhorns are saying exactly what one would hope for from a team coming off of its three most challenging games of the season in October. With the four games in November part of what’s a true make-or-break month throughout all of college football, Texas is right back to where it needs to be mentally. Now it’s up to the Longhorns to put their money where their mouth is against a talented Florida team on Saturday morning.