Three things from Sark: How's tackling? Ryan Niblett's progress, Quinn Ewers leading

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke to the media after practice this morning to discuss a host of topics including tackling, the wide receiver rotation, and how Quinn Ewers continues to develop.

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How’s tackling?

Every year, Inside Texas asks the head coach of the Longhorns a very simple question looking for an answer that’s critical in determining how Texas will fare in the upcoming season: how would you evaluate tackling so far?

“We tackle a lot,” Sarkisian said Monday. “All of our team run sessions have been live up until the last half-portion of last week. We tackle a fair amount. We work on tackling a ton.”

Thus far, Sarkisian has seemingly been pleased with what his team has offered as far as tackling. That doesn’t mean he’s completely satisfied, especially after admitting he observed more than a handful of missed chances on Saturday when the Longhorns scrimmaged.

“I felt like there was a few opportunities in the scrimmage on Saturday where we gave up some leaky yardage on some tackles that I would have liked us to make a little bit cleaner,” Sarkisian said.

That’s not to say the Longhorns are part of what could be a decade-long problem in America when it comes to tackling. Sarkisian has seemed happy with the Longhorns’ efforts in bringing people to the ground.

There is room for improvement, but so far, so good for the Longhorns in a key area of the sport.

“For the most part, I didn’t see just blatant, really poor tackling,” Sarkisian said when describing Saturday’s scrimmage. “I did see a high level of physicality, especially from some guys that haven’t shown it in years past that are starting to grow into our style of play.”

Is Ryan Niblett joining the Longhorns’ top six at wide receiver?

For most of training camp, the Longhorns have considered their top six at wide receiver to be Isaiah Bond, Silas Bolden, Matthew Golden, Ryan Wingo, DeAndre Moore, and Johntay Cook.

There may be another name to add to that group.

“We have six guys that I feel very comfortable playing in the game, and I would say coming out of Saturday, I would say seven,” Sarkisian said. “Ryan Niblett has really come on in the last week, week and a half. I’ve been very impressed with him not only offensively, but also on special teams. I told him that today on the field that I was really proud of him because he just continued to work.”

Niblett was ranked as the No. 66 overall prospect, the No. 11 wide receiver, and the No. 12 player in Texas in the 2023 class. He played in three games last season but did not record any stats.

That might change this year.

Niblett, a player who boasted sub-11.0 100m speed during his high school career, is now in the mix at receiver. That position boasts a number of players who not only have elite speed but are also high-quality football players. How might Sarkisian elect to deploy pass-catchers during the 2024 season? He may take a look at the NFL and see how they operate.

“It’s shifting back maybe to maybe a little bit more of that NFL mentality of putting guys into very specific spots rather than just three guys out there the whole time,” Sarkisian said. “It’s a shift and a change, and that’s okay. I think it’s the right combination of players on the field is probably more important than who’s the top three.”

Is Texas deep enough to sub three different receivers in a hockey shift fashion?

“Easily,” Sarkisian said.

Quinn Ewers, the leader

Quinn Ewers has had a strong month as far as NIL goes in August, but he’s not letting that distract him from his responsibilities as the leader of the Longhorns.

Just ask Sarkisian when speaking about a recent practice from last week.

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“I’d gotten a text from Quinn, I don’t know, maybe 30 minutes or so after practice,” Sarkisian said. “We had a team meeting the next day at 2:45 or something. He said ‘coach, do you mind if we have a players only meeting at 2:35?’ I had never gotten that from Quinn.

“In year’s past, that may have been Jordan (Whittington) or Jaylan Ford or one of those guys. But for Quinn to be the guy that was calling a players only meeting, I thought in that moment already for me, differently than maybe with the players, that this guy is really stepping up and saying ‘I want to have this meeting, I want to have these things with the guys to make sure we’re really dialed in.’

Sarkisian would continues by saying, “I know that his rapport with his teammates is tremendous right now. I know they look up to him with very high regard. They know the way he works and goes about his business. But yet he’s definitely more vocal. I can see that on the field as I’m out there, even in scrimmages. Picking guys up, talking to linemen, letting a pass rusher know that was a nice pass rush, things of that nature. Just much more engaged.”