On Saturday, with the season opener against the Texas State Bobcats looming two weeks away, the Texas Longhorns held the second scrimmage of preseason camp at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium before the team enters a mock game week with classes starting on Monday.
In brutally hot conditions with the temperature on the artificial turf on Campbell-Williams Field reaching close to 150 degrees, Texas ran 120 plays in preparation for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 5.
“The fact that our guys fought through
those conditions and are getting comfortable in those conditions, I thought was good for us. And I thought that coming out of this scrimmage of 120 plays and having no no injuries, that’s positive when a lot of teams around the country are having the scrimmage and guys are going down, so I think it speaks to the conditioning of the team, kind of where they’re at,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said.
After the offense won the last two practices, the defense won the scrimmage for the second time in preseason camp.
“I thought the defense came ready to go today — I think they created four turnovers, I think they created plenty of third and longs, I think they rushed the passer, they were sticky in coverage. With that being said, there were things that they need to improve upon, too,” Sarkisian said.
With junior linebacker Ty’Anthony Smith dismissed on Friday for “conduct detrimental to the team,” according to Sarkisian, freshman Kosi Okpala stepped up with an interception return for a touchdown.
The Texas head coach characterized the offensive performance as “sloppy” with redshirt junior quarterback Arch Manning struggling with his efficiency early.
“I feel like we should be better, more efficient from an offensive perspective,” Sarkisian said.
There were positives with at least two of the three starting wide receivers recording touchdown catches — two by junior Emmett Mosley and one by junior Ryan Wingo in addition to a score by freshman Jermaine Bishop, who is positioning himself for playing time this season despite Sarkisian’s traditional preference for short wide receiver rotations.
“The fact that the ball is getting spread around the way that we want to was good,” Sarkisian said.
Coming out of a strong week of practice, Manning finished the scrimmage well, delivering touchdown passes to Wingo and Mosley late, capping the 50 or so uneven snaps for the Texas starter.
“I think there’s some opportunities in there when you watch the tape — scrimmage is always hard — where maybe he can use his legs more, and I think we all know the value of him using his legs, especially in some of those third-down scenarios, fourth down even for that matter,” Sarkisian said.
Three weeks into preseason camp, Sarkisian felt some physical and mental fatigue from Manning.
“I think Arch is a great microcosm of the team. You can feel a little bit of that today, to where I think that we can be a little more energized, a little more sharp,” Sarkisian said. “I think he can, too, and that’ll lend itself to a little bit more of a complete positive performance. There were a lot of positive things today, but we’re always striving for a complete positive performance.”
Because despite those positives in the passing game, the errors tilted the scrimmage in the defense’s favor.
“Just too many errors occurring on the offensive side of the ball today that is uncharacteristic for what we put on tape in practice, and so we’ve got to get back to that mentality, regardless if it’s a scrimmage format, a practice format, a game format, because the game’s going to be here in two weeks,” Sarkisian said.
Of particular emphasis is protecting the football — as Sarkisian noted, two of the last three national champions have finished first nationally in turnover margin, which dictates the winner in roughly 80 percent of SEC games. For the Longhorns, the team haven’t lost a game while winning the turnover battle since the 2023 Alamo Bowl.
“Walking out of today with four turnovers, I love it from a defensive perspective. I hate it from an offensive perspective, right? And that’s this tug of war you have as a head coach because I want us to continue to attack the ball and put pressure on our offense to take care of it, but I also know, man, we have got to protect that ball with our life,” Sarkisian said.
The offensive line was operating without left tackle Trevor Goosby, out with the bone bruise sustained during Monday’s practice, and left guard Laurence Seymore, who suffered an “injury hiccup” early in the first scrimmage, but is set to return on Monday.
“Trevor, I think, is making really good progress, so I do think we’re going to get the left side back,” Sarkisian said.
With Goosby out, redshirt junior Andre Cojoe is working at left tackle, receiving “invaluable reps” as he positions himself as the team’s third tackle. At left guard, sophomore Dylan Sikorski and redshirt freshman Jackson Christian received reps.
“Naturally at left guard, it’s been a pretty healthy competition,” Sarkisian said.
Toughened by the suffocating heat wave blanketing Central Texas, the Longhorns head into their mock game week building the physical and mental toughness that will be necessary to make it through the nation’s most difficult schedule.
“All in all, I like the intent for the most part of what the majority of the guys brought. There’s some guys that need to be better, and that’s not uncommon,” Sarkisian said. “To think that every guy’s going to come out and just have a great scrimmage every time we go out, that’s probably not fair, but it’s our job as coaches to get as close as we can to 100 percent of the guys perform at an optimal level.”
