Three things to know from Sark: How tackling is going, scrimmage recap, remaining concerns

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian spent a few minutes with the media on Monday to discuss a variety of topics. Some of the big points included his thoughts on tackling, a recap of Saturday’s scrimmage, and what his remaining concerns are heading into prep for the first game of the season.

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How has tackling been?

Every year near the midway point of padded preseason practices, Inside Texas asks the UT head coach a simple question: how has your team fared tackling?

One of the main features of the sport, often called “tackle football,” obviously is tackling. In 2021, Sarkisian’s first year at Texas, Pete Kwiatkowski‘s defense had a Pro Football Focus tackling grade of 62.1. Included in that grade were 148 missed tackles across 12 games, with seven different players possessing double-digit totals in that statistic.

Last year in 13 games, there was a marked improvement in grade and volume. Texas’ PFF tackling grade was 71.4, and the Longhorns missed 154 in 13 games. Only five players reached the double-digit threshold.

With a couple of years of progress shown, what has been Sarkisian’s impression of tackling so far in this camp?

“I’ve been impressed with the tackling,” Sarkisian said Monday. “Sometimes, you even think about the younger guys, you’d be a little concerned with just because of the speed of it and the size of it. But Manny Muhammad has had two good scrimmages from a tackling perspective, which when we recruited him I don’t know if we thought that was going to be one of his strengths. We knew we were getting a long cover corner that did that. Liona Lefau had a great tackle and forced fumble on Saturday. The young guys there, too.

“Jalen Catalon, I want to give him some credit because I think he’s brought some attitude about him, a physicality about him, and an intensity about him to go along with what (Jerrin Thompson) brings that I think has set a tone that we want to be a knock-back tackling defense. We want to populate the football. We want to get the ball off of people and create more turnovers, and in turn I think we’ve tackled well.”

What has inspired those thoughts in Sarkisian includes more data to analyze thanks in part to the work done in the offseason by the strength and training staffs to help the Horns perform at their best in the August heat.

“We tackled more early in training camp than we have historically,” Sarkisian said. “That’s why I credit the fact that we’re healthy the way that we are. And we probably had a more physical training camp, I think that’s been impressive. I feel comfortable, but we’re not perfect yet. We had some opportunities, which I showed the team this morning, where we have to apply the drill work that we do early in practice when we work on tackling… in game.”

Recapping Saturday’s scrimmage

Per Sarkisian, the Longhorn defense had a better day at the office than the offense during this past Saturday’s scrimmage, which featured 70-80 snaps worth of plays.

“Defensively, they had a good scrimmage,” Sarkisian said. “I think it started with their energy. I thought they brought really good, positive energy for one another.”

Sarkisian complimented PK’s side of the ball’s ability to stop the run and force field goal attempts in the red zone, and specifically highlighted players in the trenches like T’Vondre Sweat. Sarkisian said Sweat had his best day of camp on Saturday. Others mentioned included Lefau, Ethan Burke, Alfred Collins, Byron Murphy, and Jaylan Ford. He also mentioned there were two turnovers with one a forced fumble and the other an interception.

“Our front seven is playing a really good brand of football,” Sarkisian said.

Steve Sarkisian says Ethan Burke is a “blue collar guy.”

“At the end of the day, the guy is a mechanic. He goes to work. He rolls his sleeves up. He doesn’t mind getting grimy. He’s always going to try to find an edge somewhere, and he’s got good wits about him.”

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) August 21, 2023

The offense was more of a mixed bag.

“Offensively, there were some good things and I think there were some things we didn’t do well,” Sarkisian said. “That boils back down to consistency. We weren’t consistent enough offensively Saturday the way I would have liked it. There wasn’t one guy or one position group. I think everybody took turns. We definitely have to improve upon that. Too many drops.”

Sarkisian did mention that there were successes on offense on third down, and that Xavier Worthy, Gunnar Helm, Johntay Cook, DeAndre Moore, and Ryan Niblett played well. He also praised the “command” his quarterbacks showed during the scrimmage, each displaying different levels based on where they are in their career and their development.

With the second scrimmage, Texas has moved past the training camp portion of the preseason. More and more jobs have had a pecking order take shape, and the remaining ones with some uncertainty will be addressed in time for the Longhorns’ mock game this Saturday so players know what to do in certain situations, who needs to be replaced in case of injury or targeting, and anything else that can arise in the course of a football game. Until then, Sarkisian said the focus for his team will be about “creating really good habits.”

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Remaining concerns?

Even with the significant amount of good news and optimism permeating from Longhorn fans, what are some things that still pester Sarkisian about his team?

“As you build towards your first game, penalties are always the concern,” Sarkisian said. “You get into a game and those are things where you can stub your toe. It’s the pre- and post-snap penalties that are concerning. The self-inflicted wounds as I like to call them. The false starts, the jump offsides, the illegal procedures, the late hits, you’re overly aggressive, and those are some of the things early in the season that can get you.”

Texas offensive players committed 46 total penalties last year according to PFF, with Hayden Conner, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Jake Majors, and Christian Jones being the most common offenders. Defensive players accounted for 35 but with no individual player assessed a penalty more than three times.

Texas was right in the middle of the rankings for fewest penalties per game at No. 65 last year, averaging 6.08 flags per contest. While not good nor bad, it’s an area where experience is a cause for hope for improvement for the Horns.

As far as personnel? Sarkisian just has to make some hard decisions he’s paid handsomely to make.

“There are some position groups where I don’t want to say I’m worried, because we’re talented, but at some point by the end of this week, I’ve got to make that call,” Sarkisian said. “That’s part of being the coach, saying who’s going to be the first guy or first guys that jog out there, and how are we going to rotate these people to maximize the depth we do have on this team.”