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We look at what the Texas depth chart looks like ahead of spring ball.
Spring practice begins on Monday, March 6. The sessions soften the blow of a long offseason without football. Continue reading “Texas Football: Predicting the two-deep ahead of spring practice”
Steve Sarkisian’s best chance at a competitive game with Alabama is the element of surprise.
Steve Sarkisian caused a stir on social media yesterday. The noise from opposing fanbases revolved around information he did not reveal.
Heading into the season opener, Sarkisian chose not to post a depth chart for public consumption. Lincoln Riley previously opted for a similar tactic for Oklahoma.
The concept of concealing a team’s plan of attack is not new, and is certainly wise given how skilled Texas’ opponents could be at stealing information. Nevertheless, the news sparked some wild takes on Twitter Monday afternoon.
While the media has a duty to disseminate information about the team, the coach’s responsibility is to win football games. For that reason, there is no need for Sarkisian to reveal anything that could give his team an edge.
Completely normal behavior from a team whose donors DEFINITELY don't demand any input on who sees the field. https://t.co/AuLPzDDc5H
— Blinkin (@blinkinriley) August 29, 2022
We may have a fuller understanding of each player’s role after the season opener. Until then, Steve Sarkisian is keeping the depth chart to himself. With Alabama coming to town September 10, Texas will take every advantage it has at its disposal.
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An early look at Texas Football’s starting lineup.
Texas’ starting offensive line is one of the biggest unknowns for the 2022 season.
Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas shed light on a potential starting line. Nahlin is deeply connected to the program, and perhaps has all five starters correct. Time will tell.
Providing different starters, we will take a look at what the entire Texas starting lineup could look like for the 2022 football season.
Texas’ elite freshman class will undoubtedly play a role in the Longhorns success this season. Multiple freshman offensive linemen, perhaps up to five, could see significant playing time at some point this season.
Additionally, Texas brings back starters along the defensive line who could finally put things together this season.
Here is an early look at who I believe could crack Texas’ starting offensive and defensive lineup.
Texas will have multiple position battles on the offensive side of the ball.
The second season under Steve Sarkisian is still a ways away, but it is never too early to speculate who will have the edge in terms of starting roles.
Spring football is approaching, which means that position battles all over the field will commence. Texas brought in over 30 new scholarship players whether it be via the transfer portal or from the high school ranks, and will expect many new faces to immediately compete for a starting role.
While there will be some familiar faces in some familiar places like Bijan Robinson in the backfield and Xavier Worthy out wide, the offensive side of the ball has been completely revamped and has a chance to field at least seven or eight new starters.
The offensive line position battles likely will not be settled until fall camp, as only one of the seven signees from the 2022 class has enrolled early, but both the quarterback and receiver slots outside of Worthy’s will begin in the spring.
Here are my way too early two-deep depth chart predictions for the offensive side of the ball.
One last chance to end the losing skid.
The Longhorns have one last chance to get back into the win column and end the season on a high note. Continue reading “Texas Football: A few minor changes to depth chart for Kansas State”
The depth chart looks a bit different than last week.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian made a few notable changes to the depth chart ahead of the Kansas game on Nov. 13. Continue reading “Texas Football: Several notable changes to the depth chart ahead of Kansas game”
This is what the first-team offense looked like at Wednesday’s open practice.
At Texas’ open practice on Wednesday, there may have been some questions answered about the pecking order on offense.
Since the departure of four-year starter Sam Ehlinger, there has been a standing question of who will replace him at quarterback?
The competition has been ongoing between Casey Thompson and Hudson Card, but neither quarterback has seemingly separated from the other. The spring game provided the first look at the new team, and we saw Thompson with the first team, while Card was with the second team. However, Card was much more efficient than Thompson, and head coach Steve Sarkisian said the battle would continue on.
The two hopefuls have been rotating and splitting reps all offseason, but over the last few practices, Card has reportedly been starting off with the starters, hinting that he is currently in the lead.
Here is what Inside Texas said about the quarterback situation prior to Wednesday’s practice:
The leading storyline of UT camp. Hudson Card has taken the majority of the snaps with the first team in the two practices since the first scrimmage. Will that continue with fans in the stands? Or will Casey Thompson receive additional reps compared to the last two days ahead of Saturday’s scrimmage?
Card did in fact get the nod on Wednesday, but Thompson also received opportunities to play with the starters as well.
The quarterback position is not the only offensive position in question, as the wide receivers and the offensive line are expected to have a few new full-time starters as well.
Let’s take a look at who was with the starting unit at Wednesday’s practice according to Inside Texas’ Joe Cook. Something to keep in mind is that impressive freshman wide receiver, Xavier Worthy, was not practicing due to an illness, but he would likely be included otherwise. While this depth chart can easily change on a day-to-day basis, it’s significant considering the season opener is roughly two weeks away.
How did Jake Smith’s departure & Keilan Robinson’s arrival shake up the projected offensive depth chart?
Spring practices concluded on the Forty Acres and several moves have been made via the transfer portal over the last few months.
On top of that, Texas is still learning the ins and outs of first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian’s offense in the midst of a quarterback competition between Hudson Card and Casey Thompson. Neither showed enough during the Orange and White game to consider themselves the favorite. Both will continue to battle until Sarkisian feels it’s necessary to announce his starting quarterback.
As for the rest of the offense, there are obvious stars such as Bijan Robinson and Jordan Whittington. The running back and wide receiver are going to be Texas’ two deadliest weapons, barring injury.
There are still questions to be answered, especially across the offensive line. Kyle Flood’s group had a rather poor spring game, getting dominated by both the first-team and second-team defensive line. The five best players will play, no matter their position.
A few updates have been made to this particular depth chart projection as Texas lost wide receiver Jake Smith via the transfer portal to USC on July 6. On the flip side, the Longhorns happily welcomed former Alabama running back Keilan Robinson roughly a month ago.
Here is an updated look at the projected offensive depth chart:
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian appears to be pleasantly surprised with offensive lineman Denzel Okafor.
It appears to be a game of musical chairs along Texas’ offensive line unit this spring. Continue reading “Texas Football: Steve Sarkisian praises one offensive lineman through spring practices”
Leading up to the season in September, Longhorns Wire will project what the depth chart could look like for Texas.
Steve Sarkisian’s defensive coordinator hire was no doubt the most important decision that he had to make while building his coaching staff in Austin. Continue reading “Texas football 2021 projected depth chart, pre-spring defense”
