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We’re just two practices into the 2024 football season. The team hasn’t even donned pads. It is way, way too early to say we’ve learned anything about what we can expect from the Texas Longhorns this year.
And yet … I was a member of Orangebloods long before I joined the staff. That means that overreacting is in my DNA and my God given right.
So, let’s overreact to everything we saw and heard from the start of fall camp.
1) The Texas Longhorns offense will set world records this season
There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the UT offense this season. Quinn Ewers and/or Arch Manning seem to have full command of Sark’s offense. The Texas offensive line is two deep and extremely talented. The wide receiver room is nine deep. CJ Baxter and Jaydon Blue comprise one of the best RB rooms in the country.
Add it all up and it’s easy to see why offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood had this to say about the offense this week.
“We want to be the most explosive offense in the country,” Flood said at his media availability on Tuesday. “I think that’s the goal of ours every year.”
It may be the goal every year but (overreaction alert) this year it’s going to happen.
I know the cliché is that games are won and lost in the trenches – and it’s true. But you really need a stud quarterback to win it all and Quinn Ewers, now in his third season as a starter, now appears ready to be on the verge of a breakout
“He (Ewers) did some things today, Quinn did, that you could feel a guy who is in our third year in the system in what he did,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the first practice.
I wrote a column about two weeks ago predicting a major breakout season for Ewers and got pushback from some saying they need to see it to believe it.
Seeing is believing.
But sometimes you just have to take the word of those who have seen it so far.
“You guys haven’t seen it as much as I have in the offseason, and I think you’ll see it this fall,” Flood told reporters this week. “He’s really gone to another level this year.”
Let’s just repeat that sentence to let it really sink in.
“He’s really gone to another level this year,” Flood said.
Ewers was already playing at a high level. If he takes it to another level, then we’re talking about an elite level of play that should have Texas competing for an SEC championship in its first season.
I will stand by my prediction for Ewers for this season. Ewers will pass for 4,250 yards, 35 touchdowns and 6 interceptions with a 75% completion percentage and a 190 rating.
“He’s really gone to another level this year,” Flood said.
If you read that line multiple times and don’t get more excited each time you read it, what are you doing on Orangebloods?
2) Offensive Line – Joe Moore Award Winners
I glossed over the offensive line earlier but let’s dive back into that.
Texas should legitimately be one of the top contenders for the Joe Moore Award, given to the best offensive line in college football.
Kelvin Banks is a well-known commodity who has one more season left on the 40 before moving on to a high draft pick slot in the NFL. (Although, I would like to see him be a little more balanced in his run blocking to improve that area of his game.) Hayden Conner and Jake Majors have more experience than just about anyone else. In fact, Majors is now in his fourth season as a starter and he has filled out nicely. DJ Campbell returns for his second season as a starter and he only got better and better as the season progressed last year. Finally, and this is the most exciting part, Cam Williams is the only new starter, stepping in for Christian Jones who is now playing in the NFL.
Williams was a highly rated recruit with a lot of expectations. He’s apparently ready to live up to those expectations.
Just look at what @Alex Dunlap had to say after observing the first practice.
“Cam Williams already looks like a high draft pick,” Dunlap wrote. “Think DJ Fluker from Alabama in 2012.”
For those who need a reminder, Fluker was Alabama’s right tackle who wound up as the 11th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.
Flood said he expects Williams to “play really well.” Williams spent the offseason preparing to be a starter and Flood said he “changed his body significantly.”
It’s not just the starters, Texas is blessed with quality depth.
“We’ve got some real depth along the offensive line, which is encouraging,” said Sarkisian.
In addition to the five starters, Texas will rotate in linemen Malik Agbo, Connor Robertson, Cole Hutson and Neto Umeozulu.
On top of that, several more players could earn snaps this season with a strong camp.
Trevor Goosby has been particularly impressive as the backup left tackle. Jaydon Chatman, Andre Cojoe and Brandon Baker were also called out by Flood for having improved this offseason.
3) Wide Receivers will all play this year
The wide receiver room is another one that goes nine deep.
First Team WR: (O) Johntay Cook - (S) DeAndre Moore - (O) Isaiah Bond
Second Team WR: (O) Ryan Wingo - (S) Matthew Golden - (O) Silas Bolden
Third Team WR: (O) Aaron Butler - (S) Ryan Niblett - (O) Parker Livingstone
There are just too many talented wide receivers for Sark to stick with his typical rotation of players. We’re going to need to see a lot more players come onto the field this year.
“Probably one of my bigger challenges is going to be just that,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “How do we find that right rotation to utilize that depth? That is something that is a little bit different for us from where we’ve been the previous three years. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t get it right, it’s just going to take us a little time.”
How can you NOT rotate the receivers this year? If you stick with just the starters that trotted out for the first day of practice, then you’re benching Ryan Wingo, Matthew Golden and Silas Bolden. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
By the way, my wild prediction for this group is that Ryan Wingo ends up leading the team in receiving yards this year, despite being a freshman.
4) The defensive backs still have a lot of work to do
I love the nerdiness and/or obsession of Alex Dunlap when it comes to football. Here are his notes about who won the battles between the wide receivers and defensive backs during the first practice.
It was an especially bad season for the UT DB’s last season and just judging from the first practice, they still have a lot of work to do to get up to speed.
However, there are some bright spots in that list which leads me to my next point.
5) Jaylon Guilbeau AND Jahdae Barron will be starters this season
Look at the list above and you’ll see that it was either Guilbeau or Barron who were making the most plays for the defense. Those two accounted for four of the seven wins on the defensive side.
I don’t care of Barron was playing with the third team on the first day or not. Jahdae will be making the move to CB this fall and you can expect him to overtake Gavin Holmes with Guilbeau taking over at the STAR position.
By the way, Guilbeau’s reemergence shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The coaches have been raving about him all summer. Sarkisian singled Guilbeau out as a leader on the defense during the SEC Media Days. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski also sung Guilbeau’s praises this week.
“Guilbeau’s had an unbelievable, outstanding offseason,” Kwiatkowski said. “Getting him back to where he was, confidence wise, his freshman year, we’re starting to see that again.
“If Guilbeau can step up then we can do some different things with Jahdae.”
By the way, Barron may have been the third team corner, but that just meant that he was going up against the first team receivers and he was STILL making plays.
6) Special assistant Scottie Hazelton will make a difference in the Texas secondary getting better this season
The NCAA changed the rules allowing special assistants like Hazelton to coach up players on the field.
“Having Scottie, with his expertise and experience, is a huge advantage for us,” Sarkisian said Wednesday.
Hazelton was working almost exclusively with the STAR DB’s during the first practice.
Most of Hazelton’s career, prior to becoming a defensive coordinator, was spent as a linebackers coach. But Johnny Nansen has that job on lockdown and he’s not going anywhere. So Hazelton is taking over the nickel DB’s at UT.
“It was helpful for us, that way,” Sarkisian said. “Obviously, with Blake Gideon working with the safeties and Terry (Joseph) working with the corners, and Scotty, now with them passing that rule that everybody can coach, it was just a really easy transition for us to get a guy with his experience to coach that one position.”
Sark had a grad assistant working with the STARs last season so having an experienced coordinator step in is an upgrade.
For what it’s worth, Hazelton has learned under some of the best, including the late, great Monte Kiffin who knew how to get the most out of defenses.
7) The defensive tackles will be good enough this year taking a ‘more is more’ approach
You’re never going to replace T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy with just two guys, so the Horns will rotate through six big boys in order to stay fresh.
Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton, Aaron Bryant, Tia Savea, Bill Norton and Jermayne Lole will all get snaps this year.
“A year ago, we probably weren’t as deep of a team as we are this year,” Sarkisian said. “Now we had some real front line players, you know at wide receiver and along the defensive line and they’re on to the NFL doing their thing, but I do think at both of those two positions, we probably have more depth than we did a year ago.”
I’ll just ignore the fact that five of those six players will be gone after this season.
8) The edge rushers this year will be the real deal
It is no small thing that Trey Moore was a starter from day one on the edge. Sark typically makes transfers earn their spot on the depth chart and that can take a week or so for it to play out. But Moore has apparently already earned that spot.
It’s not like the Horns are short of edge prospects with Barryn Sorrell (who is one of the most underrated players on the entire team), Ethan Burke, Justice Finkley, Colton Vasek and Colin Simmons.
Getting more pressure on the quarterback will go a long, long way towards making this team a true title contender … and it’s going to happen.
9) Nik Sanders – all around mensch
Texas baseball fans will know Nik Sanders as a catching prospect who knows a thing or two about hitting.
But, if we’re keeping it a 100, Sanders was far down the depth chart having only appeared in nine games and batting .056 in 18 at bats. So, he has a thing or two to still learn about hitting.
But, as it turns out, he now needs to learn a thing or two about getting hit.
Sanders has decided to walk on to the football team as a running back.
Sanders likely won’t see a lot of playing time as a football player either with guys like CJ Baxter, Jaydon Blue and Tre Wisner ahead of him. But he has been warmly welcomed by the RB room.
“He’s definitely one of those guys we needed in the room,” starting running back CJ Baxter said about Sanders after practice Thursday. “We knew him before he walked on to the team. We met him where we eat lunch. So it wasn’t like we met a new dude, he’s just new in the room.”
Baxter went on to say that Sanders isn’t going to be one of those walk-ons who just quietly goes about his job.
“I heard Jake (Majors) say something about (Jaydon) Blue, that Blue will let you know when he beats you, Nik is one of those outspoken guys,” Baxter said with a laugh.
10) Speaking of fire … the Texas summer heat won’t be this team
As a baseball fan, I grew up watching the Texas Rangers get off to good starts, only to wilt as the season went on and the mercury climbed.
The heat does far more damage to the body than most people realize. It is absolutely a killer, sapping strength and hydration.
So I admit I didn’t love Sark pushing for the team to practice in the dead heat of the day.
“We’re going to go hard for the first two and a half weeks, because I think that that’s a mindset,” Sarkisian said. “We believe in the toughness in our program and we have to push them to places where maybe they didn’t think they could go, and then excel in those places.”
But Sark isn’t just some old-school coach who doesn’t believe in water breaks.
“One thing we really take a lot of pride in here is the sports science,” Sarkisian said. “We used a different model in training camp last year than we did the first two years and we kind of did the same thing again today, which is a little bit more of a ramp up model that they use in the NFL. We don’t go quite as many reps, we try to build towards what we want to be in practices five, six, seven.
“And then kind of in that week three, the week before the first game, we’ll start tapering a little bit and getting their bodies back right and so they’ll get two weeks of that and then be ready to go for the first ball game.”
For what it’s worth, week one will definitely be a test of the team’s stamina.
“We’re going to play an air raid team in Colorado State. They’re going to go fast and they’re going to take big splits and they’re going to throw the ball God knows how many times. It’s going to be hot and it’s going to be one of the longer days of your guys lives that Saturday,” Sarkisian said with a chuckle while looking at the reporters gathered around him.
Maybe Sark is on to something. Maybe my perception of the heat has more to do with my soft reporter’s body than anything based on science.
BONUS NUGGET:
Defensive Coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said this week that Anthony Hill is finally learning how to play linebacker. But PK didn’t exactly put it mildly – telling Hill that he was a great football player but a terrible linebacker.
Hill took the tough coaching like it was intended.
“I knew where he was coming from,” Hill said. “I knew I wasn’t doing it right but I knew I was going to do it fast. That’s one thing that when I first got here I said to myself. I may not always know what is going on but I’m going to do something fast and make sure I’m around the ball.”
Hill added that playing linebacker didn’t really click for him until the Big 12 Championship game against Oklahoma State.
Now that it has clicked, you can expect Hill to play even faster … which should be a scary prospect for offenses facing Texas this season.
TWEETS OF INTEREST
Michael Taaffe, the former walk on, now has an NIL deal with Laborghini. One of my original 10 thoughts was about how Taaffe is going to end up having a ten yar NFL career.
I know he’s five-foot, nothing. Weighs next to nothing. Runs a 40-yard-dash time that would make other guys blush with embarrassment. But The guy just continually exceeds expectations.
Doesn’t get a scholarship offer to Texas. No worries, he walks on and earns that scholly.
Gets overlooked as a walkon. No worries, he goes out and takes the starting job.
Texas brings in Andrew Mukuba, a three year starter at Clemson. Guess who was running with the first team ahead of Mukuba on day one of fall camp? Yep, it was Taaffe.
Of course now he is in a green practice jersey with a cast on his hand, but that’s just going to be one more thing he overcomes to prove himself.
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If you’ve watched “Receiver” on Netflix, you will have seen how Amon Ra St. Brown has the names of every receiver taken before him in the NFL draft taped to his locker and he has them all memorized. He has used it as fuel to propel him to star status in the league.
Why do I feel like Adonai Mitchell is going to play this season with a big ass chip on his shoulder after sliding to the 52nd pick in the NFL draft this year?
Ricky Pearsall, Xavier Legette, Keon Coleman, Ladd McConkey, and Ja’Lynn Polk were all picks that had to sting Mitchell while he was watching the draft.
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French swimmer Leon Marchand has been the star of the Olympics in the pool this year … especially in the host country.
But the real star has to be new Texas swimming coach Bob Bowman who has another couple of gold medals he can take credit for on the recruiting trail.
Incidentally, Marchand emailed Bowman and said he wanted to swim for the coach who trained Michael Phelps. That’s how the Frenchman ended up swimming at Arizona State this past season (leading ASU to the national championship).
If Marchand was willing to come to America to learn under Bowman, you have to believe there are other world class swimmers who are just itching to get to Austin to swim for the man as well.
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Jordan Hicks is going to be an easy person to root for in his post NFL life.
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And then there’s LSU.
Because … of course they did.
www.espn.com
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Maybe this is why Sark makes his players work out in the middle of the afternoon during the summer?
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What do you want to bet he was playing EA Sports College Football 25?
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You really can find ANYTHING at Buccees!
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I mean, I’m more of a Coors Banquet Beer sorta fella myself, but if @Ketchum doesn’t immediately implement this policy in the Orangebloods offices then I’m going to consider going on strike.
We’re just two practices into the 2024 football season. The team hasn’t even donned pads. It is way, way too early to say we’ve learned anything about what we can expect from the Texas Longhorns this year.
And yet … I was a member of Orangebloods long before I joined the staff. That means that overreacting is in my DNA and my God given right.
So, let’s overreact to everything we saw and heard from the start of fall camp.
1) The Texas Longhorns offense will set world records this season
There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the UT offense this season. Quinn Ewers and/or Arch Manning seem to have full command of Sark’s offense. The Texas offensive line is two deep and extremely talented. The wide receiver room is nine deep. CJ Baxter and Jaydon Blue comprise one of the best RB rooms in the country.
Add it all up and it’s easy to see why offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood had this to say about the offense this week.
“We want to be the most explosive offense in the country,” Flood said at his media availability on Tuesday. “I think that’s the goal of ours every year.”
It may be the goal every year but (overreaction alert) this year it’s going to happen.
I know the cliché is that games are won and lost in the trenches – and it’s true. But you really need a stud quarterback to win it all and Quinn Ewers, now in his third season as a starter, now appears ready to be on the verge of a breakout
“He (Ewers) did some things today, Quinn did, that you could feel a guy who is in our third year in the system in what he did,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the first practice.
I wrote a column about two weeks ago predicting a major breakout season for Ewers and got pushback from some saying they need to see it to believe it.
Seeing is believing.
But sometimes you just have to take the word of those who have seen it so far.
“You guys haven’t seen it as much as I have in the offseason, and I think you’ll see it this fall,” Flood told reporters this week. “He’s really gone to another level this year.”
Let’s just repeat that sentence to let it really sink in.
“He’s really gone to another level this year,” Flood said.
Ewers was already playing at a high level. If he takes it to another level, then we’re talking about an elite level of play that should have Texas competing for an SEC championship in its first season.
I will stand by my prediction for Ewers for this season. Ewers will pass for 4,250 yards, 35 touchdowns and 6 interceptions with a 75% completion percentage and a 190 rating.
“He’s really gone to another level this year,” Flood said.
If you read that line multiple times and don’t get more excited each time you read it, what are you doing on Orangebloods?
2) Offensive Line – Joe Moore Award Winners
I glossed over the offensive line earlier but let’s dive back into that.
Texas should legitimately be one of the top contenders for the Joe Moore Award, given to the best offensive line in college football.
Kelvin Banks is a well-known commodity who has one more season left on the 40 before moving on to a high draft pick slot in the NFL. (Although, I would like to see him be a little more balanced in his run blocking to improve that area of his game.) Hayden Conner and Jake Majors have more experience than just about anyone else. In fact, Majors is now in his fourth season as a starter and he has filled out nicely. DJ Campbell returns for his second season as a starter and he only got better and better as the season progressed last year. Finally, and this is the most exciting part, Cam Williams is the only new starter, stepping in for Christian Jones who is now playing in the NFL.
Williams was a highly rated recruit with a lot of expectations. He’s apparently ready to live up to those expectations.
Just look at what @Alex Dunlap had to say after observing the first practice.
“Cam Williams already looks like a high draft pick,” Dunlap wrote. “Think DJ Fluker from Alabama in 2012.”
For those who need a reminder, Fluker was Alabama’s right tackle who wound up as the 11th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.
Flood said he expects Williams to “play really well.” Williams spent the offseason preparing to be a starter and Flood said he “changed his body significantly.”
It’s not just the starters, Texas is blessed with quality depth.
“We’ve got some real depth along the offensive line, which is encouraging,” said Sarkisian.
In addition to the five starters, Texas will rotate in linemen Malik Agbo, Connor Robertson, Cole Hutson and Neto Umeozulu.
On top of that, several more players could earn snaps this season with a strong camp.
Trevor Goosby has been particularly impressive as the backup left tackle. Jaydon Chatman, Andre Cojoe and Brandon Baker were also called out by Flood for having improved this offseason.
3) Wide Receivers will all play this year
The wide receiver room is another one that goes nine deep.
First Team WR: (O) Johntay Cook - (S) DeAndre Moore - (O) Isaiah Bond
Second Team WR: (O) Ryan Wingo - (S) Matthew Golden - (O) Silas Bolden
Third Team WR: (O) Aaron Butler - (S) Ryan Niblett - (O) Parker Livingstone
There are just too many talented wide receivers for Sark to stick with his typical rotation of players. We’re going to need to see a lot more players come onto the field this year.
“Probably one of my bigger challenges is going to be just that,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “How do we find that right rotation to utilize that depth? That is something that is a little bit different for us from where we’ve been the previous three years. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t get it right, it’s just going to take us a little time.”
How can you NOT rotate the receivers this year? If you stick with just the starters that trotted out for the first day of practice, then you’re benching Ryan Wingo, Matthew Golden and Silas Bolden. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
By the way, my wild prediction for this group is that Ryan Wingo ends up leading the team in receiving yards this year, despite being a freshman.
4) The defensive backs still have a lot of work to do
I love the nerdiness and/or obsession of Alex Dunlap when it comes to football. Here are his notes about who won the battles between the wide receivers and defensive backs during the first practice.
- Johntay Cook beats Manny Muhammed
- Juan Davis beats Derrick Williams
- Jaylon Guilbeau SMOTHERS DeAndre Moore
- Isaiah Bond beat Jahdae Barron underneath
- Ryan Wingo burns Kobe Black on a deep ball
- Amari Niblack shakes Andrew Mukuba out of his jock
- Silas Bolden (who is very slight of frame) with a TOUGH contested catch win over Gavin Holmes
- Jay'Vion Cole beats Aaron Butler
- Jordan Washington BEASTS against Jelani McDonald
- Ryan Niblett beats Jordan Johnson-Rubell
- Parker Livingstone beats Wardell Mack
- Gunner Helm beats Xavier Filsaime
- Jaylon Guilbeau beats DeAndre Moore (Again) because he forced him out of bounds (No Pass Interference, he made Moore take his angle short)
- Jahdae Barron with a PBU on Isaiah Bond
- Derrick Williams with a PBU on Spencer Shannon
- Silas Bolden just COOKED some poor walk-on
- Warren Roberson beats Matthew Golden
- Ryan Wingo again beats Kobe Black
- Gunner Helm beats Andrew Mukuba (Again)
- Isaiah Bond can't shake Jahdae Barron, pass incomplete
It was an especially bad season for the UT DB’s last season and just judging from the first practice, they still have a lot of work to do to get up to speed.
However, there are some bright spots in that list which leads me to my next point.
5) Jaylon Guilbeau AND Jahdae Barron will be starters this season
Look at the list above and you’ll see that it was either Guilbeau or Barron who were making the most plays for the defense. Those two accounted for four of the seven wins on the defensive side.
I don’t care of Barron was playing with the third team on the first day or not. Jahdae will be making the move to CB this fall and you can expect him to overtake Gavin Holmes with Guilbeau taking over at the STAR position.
By the way, Guilbeau’s reemergence shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The coaches have been raving about him all summer. Sarkisian singled Guilbeau out as a leader on the defense during the SEC Media Days. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski also sung Guilbeau’s praises this week.
“Guilbeau’s had an unbelievable, outstanding offseason,” Kwiatkowski said. “Getting him back to where he was, confidence wise, his freshman year, we’re starting to see that again.
“If Guilbeau can step up then we can do some different things with Jahdae.”
By the way, Barron may have been the third team corner, but that just meant that he was going up against the first team receivers and he was STILL making plays.
6) Special assistant Scottie Hazelton will make a difference in the Texas secondary getting better this season
The NCAA changed the rules allowing special assistants like Hazelton to coach up players on the field.
“Having Scottie, with his expertise and experience, is a huge advantage for us,” Sarkisian said Wednesday.
Hazelton was working almost exclusively with the STAR DB’s during the first practice.
Most of Hazelton’s career, prior to becoming a defensive coordinator, was spent as a linebackers coach. But Johnny Nansen has that job on lockdown and he’s not going anywhere. So Hazelton is taking over the nickel DB’s at UT.
“It was helpful for us, that way,” Sarkisian said. “Obviously, with Blake Gideon working with the safeties and Terry (Joseph) working with the corners, and Scotty, now with them passing that rule that everybody can coach, it was just a really easy transition for us to get a guy with his experience to coach that one position.”
Sark had a grad assistant working with the STARs last season so having an experienced coordinator step in is an upgrade.
For what it’s worth, Hazelton has learned under some of the best, including the late, great Monte Kiffin who knew how to get the most out of defenses.
7) The defensive tackles will be good enough this year taking a ‘more is more’ approach
You’re never going to replace T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy with just two guys, so the Horns will rotate through six big boys in order to stay fresh.
Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton, Aaron Bryant, Tia Savea, Bill Norton and Jermayne Lole will all get snaps this year.
“A year ago, we probably weren’t as deep of a team as we are this year,” Sarkisian said. “Now we had some real front line players, you know at wide receiver and along the defensive line and they’re on to the NFL doing their thing, but I do think at both of those two positions, we probably have more depth than we did a year ago.”
I’ll just ignore the fact that five of those six players will be gone after this season.
8) The edge rushers this year will be the real deal
It is no small thing that Trey Moore was a starter from day one on the edge. Sark typically makes transfers earn their spot on the depth chart and that can take a week or so for it to play out. But Moore has apparently already earned that spot.
It’s not like the Horns are short of edge prospects with Barryn Sorrell (who is one of the most underrated players on the entire team), Ethan Burke, Justice Finkley, Colton Vasek and Colin Simmons.
Getting more pressure on the quarterback will go a long, long way towards making this team a true title contender … and it’s going to happen.
9) Nik Sanders – all around mensch
Texas baseball fans will know Nik Sanders as a catching prospect who knows a thing or two about hitting.
But, if we’re keeping it a 100, Sanders was far down the depth chart having only appeared in nine games and batting .056 in 18 at bats. So, he has a thing or two to still learn about hitting.
But, as it turns out, he now needs to learn a thing or two about getting hit.
Sanders has decided to walk on to the football team as a running back.
Sanders likely won’t see a lot of playing time as a football player either with guys like CJ Baxter, Jaydon Blue and Tre Wisner ahead of him. But he has been warmly welcomed by the RB room.
“He’s definitely one of those guys we needed in the room,” starting running back CJ Baxter said about Sanders after practice Thursday. “We knew him before he walked on to the team. We met him where we eat lunch. So it wasn’t like we met a new dude, he’s just new in the room.”
Baxter went on to say that Sanders isn’t going to be one of those walk-ons who just quietly goes about his job.
“I heard Jake (Majors) say something about (Jaydon) Blue, that Blue will let you know when he beats you, Nik is one of those outspoken guys,” Baxter said with a laugh.
10) Speaking of fire … the Texas summer heat won’t be this team
As a baseball fan, I grew up watching the Texas Rangers get off to good starts, only to wilt as the season went on and the mercury climbed.
The heat does far more damage to the body than most people realize. It is absolutely a killer, sapping strength and hydration.
So I admit I didn’t love Sark pushing for the team to practice in the dead heat of the day.
“We’re going to go hard for the first two and a half weeks, because I think that that’s a mindset,” Sarkisian said. “We believe in the toughness in our program and we have to push them to places where maybe they didn’t think they could go, and then excel in those places.”
But Sark isn’t just some old-school coach who doesn’t believe in water breaks.
“One thing we really take a lot of pride in here is the sports science,” Sarkisian said. “We used a different model in training camp last year than we did the first two years and we kind of did the same thing again today, which is a little bit more of a ramp up model that they use in the NFL. We don’t go quite as many reps, we try to build towards what we want to be in practices five, six, seven.
“And then kind of in that week three, the week before the first game, we’ll start tapering a little bit and getting their bodies back right and so they’ll get two weeks of that and then be ready to go for the first ball game.”
For what it’s worth, week one will definitely be a test of the team’s stamina.
“We’re going to play an air raid team in Colorado State. They’re going to go fast and they’re going to take big splits and they’re going to throw the ball God knows how many times. It’s going to be hot and it’s going to be one of the longer days of your guys lives that Saturday,” Sarkisian said with a chuckle while looking at the reporters gathered around him.
Maybe Sark is on to something. Maybe my perception of the heat has more to do with my soft reporter’s body than anything based on science.
BONUS NUGGET:
Defensive Coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said this week that Anthony Hill is finally learning how to play linebacker. But PK didn’t exactly put it mildly – telling Hill that he was a great football player but a terrible linebacker.
Hill took the tough coaching like it was intended.
“I knew where he was coming from,” Hill said. “I knew I wasn’t doing it right but I knew I was going to do it fast. That’s one thing that when I first got here I said to myself. I may not always know what is going on but I’m going to do something fast and make sure I’m around the ball.”
Hill added that playing linebacker didn’t really click for him until the Big 12 Championship game against Oklahoma State.
Now that it has clicked, you can expect Hill to play even faster … which should be a scary prospect for offenses facing Texas this season.
TWEETS OF INTEREST
Michael Taaffe, the former walk on, now has an NIL deal with Laborghini. One of my original 10 thoughts was about how Taaffe is going to end up having a ten yar NFL career.
I know he’s five-foot, nothing. Weighs next to nothing. Runs a 40-yard-dash time that would make other guys blush with embarrassment. But The guy just continually exceeds expectations.
Doesn’t get a scholarship offer to Texas. No worries, he walks on and earns that scholly.
Gets overlooked as a walkon. No worries, he goes out and takes the starting job.
Texas brings in Andrew Mukuba, a three year starter at Clemson. Guess who was running with the first team ahead of Mukuba on day one of fall camp? Yep, it was Taaffe.
Of course now he is in a green practice jersey with a cast on his hand, but that’s just going to be one more thing he overcomes to prove himself.
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If you’ve watched “Receiver” on Netflix, you will have seen how Amon Ra St. Brown has the names of every receiver taken before him in the NFL draft taped to his locker and he has them all memorized. He has used it as fuel to propel him to star status in the league.
Why do I feel like Adonai Mitchell is going to play this season with a big ass chip on his shoulder after sliding to the 52nd pick in the NFL draft this year?
Ricky Pearsall, Xavier Legette, Keon Coleman, Ladd McConkey, and Ja’Lynn Polk were all picks that had to sting Mitchell while he was watching the draft.
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French swimmer Leon Marchand has been the star of the Olympics in the pool this year … especially in the host country.
But the real star has to be new Texas swimming coach Bob Bowman who has another couple of gold medals he can take credit for on the recruiting trail.
Incidentally, Marchand emailed Bowman and said he wanted to swim for the coach who trained Michael Phelps. That’s how the Frenchman ended up swimming at Arizona State this past season (leading ASU to the national championship).
If Marchand was willing to come to America to learn under Bowman, you have to believe there are other world class swimmers who are just itching to get to Austin to swim for the man as well.
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Jordan Hicks is going to be an easy person to root for in his post NFL life.
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And then there’s LSU.
Because … of course they did.
LSU reinstates CB Toviano amid voyeurism case
LSU cornerback Javien Toviano, whose arrest on charges of video voyeurism remains under review, has been reinstated by the Tigers and practiced with the team.
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Maybe this is why Sark makes his players work out in the middle of the afternoon during the summer?
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What do you want to bet he was playing EA Sports College Football 25?
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You really can find ANYTHING at Buccees!
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I mean, I’m more of a Coors Banquet Beer sorta fella myself, but if @Ketchum doesn’t immediately implement this policy in the Orangebloods offices then I’m going to consider going on strike.
