On Monday, the Texas Longhorns announced that the final spring practice for head coach Steve Sarkisian and his football program will be an open practice held at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, April 18 for Fan Day, marking the second straight season that the Longhorns haven’t held the Orange-White game.
Last year, Sarkisian cited the long season and need to integrate 27 new players by taking a more NFL-style OTA approach in spring practice in articulating his decision making behind
canceling the annual spring-ending scrimmage.
On Tuesday, the Texas head coach provided some perspective on his thinking this year.
“I would play a game if I could. When you don’t have quite enough lineman, and all of a sudden you get a couple of guys hurt, how do you play? We’ll modify it, it’ll still be entertaining I think for the fans, but ideally I’d love to play a game,” Sarkisian said.
The Horns are thin along the offensive line because redshirt junior left tackle Trevor Goosby is still working his way back from offseason shoulder injury, redshirt junior right tackle Andre Cojoe suffered a season-ending knee injury in preseason camp last August, and early enrollee offensive lineman Kaden Scherer is out for the spring after undergoing surgery for a lower leg injury.
But Texas will still have a scrimmage portion of practice, according to Sarkisian.
Familiar Fan Day activities include the team shop fire sale and street fest with gameday attractions like Bevo Blvd at 9:30 a.m. prior to the start of practice at 11 a.m. After practice, Texas players will sign autographs on the field, along with photo opportunities with Sarkisian, Teas cheer, Texas pom, and Hook ‘Em.
