Updates from Steve Sarkisian's pre-UTSA Zoom

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was available for his regular Thursday Zoom. While quarterback was a main topic, he remained mum on the subject. He also offered praise to UTSA, Roadrunner head coach Jeff Traylor, and provided other updates ahead of Saturday night’s matchup,

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–Sarkisian’s opening statement: “I just got done telling the players how proud I was of them for the way they came back and practiced on Tuesday. It was one of our more physical, better practices we’ve had on a Tuesday. And then, came out today on Thursday with a really efficient, fast practice, probably one of the best Thursdays we’ve had since I’ve been here. I love the mindset of where we’re at. Clearly, we’ve got a heck of a challenge ahead of us. We’re playing a really veteran football team that’s extremely well-coached. Coach Traylor does a fantastic job. They’ve got a lot of seniors, and they’ve won a lot of games. They’re used to playing in tight football games. Clearly, they’ve been in two overtime games this year to start the season. So we’ve got to get prepared for a real physical game. UTSA plays hard. They play tough. They’re very sound. We need to be assignment sound, yet we need to be sure we play our brand of football for 60 minutes.”

–Few details about the quarterback position were offered by Sarkisian: “I think from a quarterback perspective, I’m really proud of all three of the guys. They all, in my opinion, progressed this week. Quinn (Ewers) and Hudson (Card) got healthier and healthier as the week went on. I thought Charles (Wright) did a good job of managing the more reps that he got. I felt like his comfort level, his confidence was as good as I’ve ever seen it, or better. That’s a real positive for us that all three of those guys got better as the week went on.”

–Are all three available for UTSA?: “What I can clarify is all three of the guys got better this week. I don’t think it’s my job to get on here and tell you guys what our game plan is going to be.”

–Why the secrecy?: “Pretty significant injuries we’ve had to endure.”

–Did Ewers get snaps?: “You guys can keep poking the bear on what I do at quarterback. At the end of the day, I’m not going to give you game-planning decisions or how we practice. There’s a reason you guys don’t come to practice. If I wanted you to know who took snaps, I’d let you come to practice.”

–Onto other topics since Sark’s not going to do it, so quit asking. No matter who is under center, Sarkisian is confident in the surrounding pieces helping his quarterback: “I feel great about it. Some things that were hidden in last things game in particular, Jordan Whittington came out on fire. I thought he really ignited us there in the first quarter and had a great first quarter. Casey Cain, for the second straight week, has made an explosive play in the pass game and that one came at a critical moment. JT Sanders, we took enough shots to him and he got a pass interference, got us started with a screen, he just missed another one. Gunnar Helm has been a really nice addition for us. Andrej Karic in some of the bigger sets we’ve been getting in at tight end. Clearly, I think all three running backs have had an impact on our ability to play, whether it’s been Bijan (Robinson), Roschon (Johnson), or Keilan (Robinson), and I think our offensive line is starting to settle in.” Overall? “I feel good good about, regardless of who is in there at quarterback, that they’ve got the people and pieces around them to execute our offense at a high level.”

–On playing at home: “A home night game, you only get 7 of these. Hopefully we can recreate an unbelievable atmosphere and sell out again. Looking forward to seeing all of our fans and their support. Their energy is so impactful on what we do, but like I told the team, we set a new standard for ourselves from a style of play, from a quality of play perspective. In turn, we’ve set new expectations for our fans. Our fans are expecting us to come in and play that brand of football, that style of football. Regardless of the opponent, to take nothing away from UTSA, there’s a standard and an expectation for which we play the game of football.”

–On the challenge of preparing multiple quarterbacks: “The quarterback, I think part of that is why we two-spot everything in training camp so the guys are getting the same amount of quality reps, and running the same plays to build a solid foundation for all the quarterbacks. When we really get into game week, the majority of reps that we take from a game-planning perspective is really limited to two guys. Clearly, this week, that’s been spread a little bit more throughout. I feel really comfortable about whether you’re a first or a second-team guy, going into a game regardless of the week. This week, it’s been a little bit different. That’s okay, we just want to make sure that the guys are running plays and operating plays when they’re in there that would most likely be called when they’re in the game. There’s some time on task management there that we’ve had to do, and I think the offensive staff and coach (A.J.) Milwee have done a nice job of preparing those guys.”

–On UTSA’s physical style of play and matching it: “I think the physicality of UTSA is unique in that they all play hard. It’s all 11 that are on the field play a style and brand of football where if I was their coach, I’d be really proud of.”