Just a scattershot of thoughts following the first day of practice based on all things reported, written and spoken about...
1. Let's start with Arch. No one made too big of a deal out of his day one, but everyone low-key was very impressed with his command, accuracy and overall vibe as the starter. It all appeared to be very natural. I believe "seamless" might be the word that jumps to mind.
2. It's impossible not to notice that true freshman defensive tackle Justus Terry being listed at 6-5, 263 pounds, which is nearly identical to the official weight and height of redshirt freshman edge Zina Umeozulu( 6-5, 259) and true freshman Lance Jackson (6-5, 258). There's no getting around the fact that Terry is much more likely to contribute as a strong-side defensive end in year one that in the interior of the line, simply based off a frame right now that doesn't have enough size to be expected to live in the trenches in the SEC outside of possibly some situational pass rush situations. It's not automatically a bad thing, but it likely means that the interior of the defensive line will almost certainly be held down by the three transfers (Hero Kanu, Cole Brevard and Travis Shaw), alongg with Alex January. Maybe Melvin Hills will be the 5th guy (ran with the twos yesterday) or maybe they'll add one more interior player through the Portal. Interesting food for thought.
3. Colton Vasek better get his butt back on the field as soon as he can because Lance Jackson running with the 2s at the strong-side defensive end, while Terry looms in the background as another player potentially vying for reps behind starter Ethan Burke is the kind of competition you can't afford to give edges to at this time of the year. Honestly, the Longhorns aren't getting enough credit for how deep they are at edge and strong-side defensive end. Those areas are absolutely loaded.
4. Texas needs at least one proven Portal receiver and possibly two. Texas simply cannot go into next season with 6 of the 8 wide receivers on campus having zero or almost zero (Parker Livingstone has 22 career snaps) game experience.. Texas would not have made the national semi-finals the last two seasons without the Portal additions made at wide receiver and I don't think they will get there in 2025 without them. It was pretty jarring to hear walk-ons were running with the 1s at the slot position, while Daylan McCutcheon was a day one starter with Deandre Moore out with an injury. This spring is revealing how much damage a single injury at wide receiver could create for the entire offense.
5. Andre Cojoe running with the 1s at right tackle ahead of Brandon Baker on day one accomplishes two things - a. it keeps Cojoe mentally invested and without a foot in the Portal. b. It dangles a carrot of motivation in front of Baker. I wouldn't overreact in any way about the right tackle situation based on the day one dynamics. Seriously, if you're telling the older player (Cojoe) that he's already been officially passed up by a younger player, you're telling him he needs to transfer. The staff clearly doesn't want to lose Cojoe, which is a very good sign. It also speaks to what the staff thinks about Malik Agbo that he was behind Nick Brooks on day one and ConnorRobertson was running behind Daniel Cruz.
6. Ok, Spender Shannon... we see you. Now show us something.
7. I really wish Jonah Williams was with the football team right now. There's a wide open path to playing as a true freshman at safety once the team starts playing Jelani McDonald more at nickel. As it stands, it kind of looks like the big winner in having Williams with the baseball team might be Xavier Filsaime, who will have every chance to put a marker down this spring for that potential open starting role.
8. One of the notes that stood out to me from yesterday was the report that so many coaches, assistant coaches and analysts were involved after every single rep, yet there seemed to be very little confusion with so many bodies on the field at once and a ton of smooth cohesion during workouts. Ummm.... that is not easy to do, given the newness that exists with being able to have this many coaching bodies on the field. I think Steve Sarkisian and the entire staff deserve a lot of credit for it not being clunky on day one.
9. Bo Barnes is listed at 6-1, 245 pounds and never in the history of the last 30 years of the football program have we quite seen anyone with his physical profile arrive as a big-time prospect and make it. I'm so fascinated to watch his progress. That dude is a freaking tank. He's bigger than Anthony Hill or Brad Spence or anyone you want to point to at linebacker on the roster.
10. Transfer punter Jack Bouwmeester made a big impression on day one. Not insignificant.
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