AUSTIN, Texas — “I love this shit, man!”
The exclamation from Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian expressed his satisfaction with a well-placed corner route from redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning to redshirt freshman wide receiver Parker Livingstone during a portion of Wednesday’s practice open to the media as the Longhorns opened preseason camp at Frank Denius Fields.
Throw of the day: Arch Manning to Parker Livingstone pic.twitter.com/JBJ1y9U0Gx
— John Burrows (@JohnBurrowsOTF) July 30, 2025
It was one of several pinpoint passes
from Manning on deep balls against air that only serves to fuel his burgeoning reputation for delivering accurate through down the field as Sarkisian’s outburst of positivity reflected the overall buzz around the Forty Acres heading into a 2025 season with sky-high expectations.
The first look at what Sarkisian believes is a championship-level roster was an extensive one, lasting nearly an hour in 100-degree Austin heat that wasn’t enough to dissuade athletics director Chris Del Conte from wearing his typical suit.
Manning received his first preseason camp snap as the Texas starter, an event that is now unremarkable enough amongst the media that Sarkisian didn’t receive a question about Manning in his post-practice availability.
“I thought overall it was a good first day. I thought that they were intentional with their approach. It was obviously a warm day and they fought through. Naturally, as practice goes on, fatigue sets in and that’s where we’ve got to tap in more to the mental intensity, the mental focus, the mental toughness that’s needed when fatigue sets in,” Sarkisian said after practice.
Among the notable developments were freshman safety Jonah Williams and freshman cornerback Kade Phillips serving as limited participants in practice. According to Sarkisian, the staff is taking a cautious approach with the hamstring injury that Williams sustained and then regularly aggravated during baseball season.
“I’m just trying to be mindful of where he is,” Sarkisian said of Williams. “We’ve got a long season to play and the last thing I want to do is put him out there too soon with the intensity of that practice and have a setback on where he’s at, so he was a little limited. He’s had a great summer. He’s very smart. We see the athleticism and we see the ball skills. He’s got to be a really good player for us.”
Phillips is also dealing with a hamstring injury that isn’t especially serious.
“The same with Kade. Kade just kind of tweaked his hamstring in the middle of July. If this was game week, he’d probably be out there,” Sarkisian said.
There were also some revealing glimpses into what the current depth chart looks like.
In the return of redshirt sophomore running back CJ Baxter to practice after tearing two knee ligaments last year, Baxter took second-team reps behind junior Quintrevion Wisner. Redshirt freshman Christian Clark, himself back from a season-ending injury, split third-team reps with sophomore Jerrick Gibson.
Baxter wore a large brace on his right knee as he went through drills.
Texas RB CJ Baxter took second-team reps on Wednesday as the Longhorns opened preseason camp wearing a large brace on his right knee. #HookEm pic.twitter.com/ntPg3ZXWuT
— Wescott Eberts (@SBN_Wescott) July 30, 2025
“CJ, I would probably say, was better than I was anticipating, especially when we got into team periods — he hit a couple runs that were that were very encouraging to me,” Sarkisian said.
Physically, Clark is one of the most impressive backs on the team with his strong, compact build.
“He’s got great balance and body control. He’s got a really strong lower half. He’s got natural running ability and that’s a hard thing to describe, but some of the things that runners do is very natural to him — the one-cut ability, the contact balance, he’s got very good hands out of the backfield,” Sarkisian said.
Arch Dumps it Off to Christian Clark
— Orangebloods.com (@orangebloods_) July 30, 2025
Good to See Him Back Out There Healthy pic.twitter.com/vAvFeVfNTX
At right tackle, sophomore Brandon Baker took the first-team reps over redshirt sophomore Andre Cojoe in one of the premier position battles of preseason camp.
“I want to see a level of consistency out of those guys at right tackle. For both those guys, we’re pushing them to do is get out of their shell, get out of their comfort zone, play a little more nasty, if you want me to be honest,” Sarkisian said.
The Longhorns also have a position battle at backup quarterback behind Manning that features senior transfer Matthew Caldwell, redshirt freshman Trey Owens, and freshman KJ Lacey.
Of the three, Owens had the most struggles, drawing Sarkisian’s ire for missing a landmark throw and failing to spin the ball effectively rolling to his left.
Caldwell looked more athletic in those situations and has an easy accuracy on short and intermediate throws that reflects his experience and maturity.
Was impressed with the athleticism and accuracy of new transfer QB Matthew Caldwell, who was more sharp than Trey Owens today during portions of Texas practice open to the media. pic.twitter.com/r1TqtYUhWn
— Wescott Eberts (@SBN_Wescott) July 30, 2025
After receiving some remonstration from Sarkisian about failing to put an out route on the boundary, Lacey impressed with his ability to throw on the run and to spin the football down the field despite a listed height and weight of 6’0, 189 pounds.
Freshman QB KJ Lacey with a dart on the rollout to freshman WR Jaime Ffrench. @ontexasfootball pic.twitter.com/KLgyDwTIwG
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) July 30, 2025
One of the biggest revelations was freshman Graceson Littleton taking some first-team reps at Star in drills in addition to factoring in on the punt teams.
“This guy had a great spring. I feel like I talked about him a lot, and it was maybe not fair to him because I was talking about him too much, but he just comes back and he works,” Sarkisian said.
“He’s very savvy, he’s smart, he’s tough, he works at his craft. Football is the most important thing in his life, and it shows, and he came out and had a good day today. You can coach him hard, he takes hard coaching, he responds, he tries to get better. So it’s a good start for him.”
Several punt return periods provided some insight into the current depth chart at punt returner with junior wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. taking first-team reps, followed by redshirt sophomore wide receiver Ryan Niblett and freshman wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon.
The first practice also marked the Texas debuts of junior Cal transfer tight end Jack Endries and sophomore Stanford transfer wide receiver Emmett Mosley V. Endries took first-team reps in team periods, while Mosley worked with the second team behind Livingstone, who took advantage of his opportunities with the first team during the spring.
The practice also confirmed the position changes of Niblett back to offense after spending the spring on defense and the move of junior Brad Spence from linebacker to edge.
More from burntorangenation.com:
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