Tag: texas longhorns depth chart

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is keeping team depth close to the vest

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.

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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Texas football 2021 projected depth chart, post-spring offense 2.0

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 football releases first depth chart ahead of season opener

Take a look at the first official depth chart ahead of the season opener against UTEP.

Texas has released the first official depth chart of the 2020 college football season.

If you’ve been keeping up with the updates throughout fall camp thus far, there aren’t any glaring surprises.

The most notable is the fact that wide receiver Tarik Black has seemingly won the starting job over Brennan Eagles. Many expected Eagles to be the breakout player this upcoming season after the departures of Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay. After all, Eagles is the most experienced receiver on the roster.

Black was a graduate transfer addition from Michigan who joined the Longhorns in April.

Running back Roschon Johnson has had one of the most impressive camps of anyone on the roster. He has a realistic chance to take over the starting role, but head coach Tom Herman is comfortable using the committee approach for the time being.

On the defensive side, the primary question marks were who would win the starting roles in the secondary. There is impressive depth and versatility there that will likely flip back and forth as the season progresses.

Caden Sterns was a lock as a free safety, but it’s notable that Chris Brown appears to have deserved the first shot at strong safety. D’Shawn Jamison and Josh Thompson will be your starting cornerbacks, beating out Jalen Green and Kenyatta Watson.

Texas Football: Where the safeties sit as season approaches

If there is one word to describe the safety position for Texas this season, it would be loaded. Caden Sterns and Chris Brown lead the way.

If there is one word to describe the safety position for Texas this season, it would be loaded. Based on high school rankings alone, the Longhorns have four blue-chip players in 247Sports’ latest two-deep depth chart.

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Here is how the safeties line up going into the season opener against UTEP on Sept. 12.

Free safety Strong Safety
Caden Sterns Chris Brown
Montrell Estell/Tyler Owens B.J. Foster

Sterns and Brown have run first-team all camp. It seems at this point that they’re a lock. Sterns, when healthy, is an All-American-type player. He showed that as a freshman. Brown, in addition to being one of the most physical players on the team, is also one of the best leaders on defense.

Pretty incredible that we’re talking about Foster as a backup. Talk about quality depth. Estell has had a better camp than Owens, who is still thinking too much, according to sources.

“The game has slowed down for Estell,” one team source. “The game needs to slow down for Owens.”

Safety Jerrin Thompson was the first freshman to have his rookie stripe taken off. I’m told the kid has just done everything right in terms of work ethic and attitude.

There is no doubt that Caden Sterns is going to be the best safety for Chris Ash’s defense. As 247Sports says, when he healthy, Sterns is an All-American type player. His struggles last season came down to injuries and missed important games such as Oklahoma and TCU.

Chris Brown at strong safety is a real surprise, considering B.J. Foster started in eight of the nine games he participated in. Listed at 5-11 and 187 pounds, Brown is going into his fifth year in Austin and is a redshirt senior.

To play strong safety, you have to be a physical presence, especially down in the box. 247Sports is reporting that Brown has been exactly that.

Foster is more than capable of starting for Texas at strong safety. If Brown is emerging as the partner to Sterns, it shows how strong of competition and how good of a roster the Longhorns have complied.

Moving to the backups and it seems as Montrell Estell and Tyler Owens are still fighting it out for the backup free safety spot. Whoever wins, it will take a lot to get Sterns off the field.

Both Estell and Owens played in all 13 games last season.

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