Texas practiced on Monday morning and head coach Steve Sarkisian said he was pleased with the work from the team across the board. Lots of improvement from day to day and that continued on Monday, he said.
“I’m really impressed with the individual progress a lot of guys are making, the individual improvement,” Sarkisian said. “Really across the board, a lot of guys have made substantial improvement and continue to make improvement from one practice to the next.”
--- Today was probably their most difficult practice of fall camp, most taxing practice. They’ll come back and practice again on Tuesday night. Introduced red zone work today, had already introduced third down stuff.
--- Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton, AD Mitchell, Johntay Cook were a few guys he singled out as having strong camps so far.
--- On Johntay Cook, Sark said he was really well coached at DeSoto and he’s been able to adopt to UT’s scheme and way of practicing.
“What I love about Johntay right now is how coachable he is. He’s really trying to do what we’re asking him to do, and then when he doesn’t do it the right way he acknowledges that and tries to do it better the next time.”
--- On Jalen Catalon … Sark said he’s another that could have been mentioned as having a strong camp so far.
“He’s had a real impact on our team, definitely defensively and in the secondary. He is very intentional with his work. He’s got a high level of intensity and mental focus. He communicates on a really high level and then when he knows, he goes. That’s a great trait, not just for him, but for other guys to see a style of play in the secondary.”
They manage him some and have him in a green jersey some days with no contact. They’re trying to not have back-to-back days with contact for Catalon but Sark said he has zero concerns with Catalon not being game-ready when the time comes.
“I am not concerned with Jalen Catalon come week one hitting somebody. That is in his DNA. We just have to manage it as we get to theseason,” Sark said.
--- Depth was talked about quite a bit. Sark said it’s going to be extremely hot when they play Rice in the opener so they’ll be going deep into the depth chart.
“Everybody is going to have to play. Everybody is going to be on somewhat of a pitch count,” Sark said. “Our two deep, even our three deep is going to create a lot of opportunities for guys. To think one guy is going to play 75 straight plays is probably not realistic.”
--- Realignment was brought up but Sark said his focus is only on the Big 12 this year.
“Adapt or die,” he said. “The game is changing. … We’re in the Big 12 this year, that’s what our focus is on.”
--- Sark said Monday was their best day of running the football so far in camp. Jonathon Brooks is back from illness. Brooks, Jaydon Blue and CJ Baxter were singled out as having made good runs on Monday.
--- Lots of talk about freshmen CJ Baxter, Anthony Hill and Johntay Cook.
“We haven’t gone out there with training wheels on the bikes with these guys. We’ve taken the training wheels off, pushed them down the road. They’ve fallen some but they’ve learned how to ride the bike,” Sark said.
“With all three of those guys, effort is never an issue. They all play hard. Anthony Hill plays hard. CJ Baxter runs hard, plays hard. Johntay runs hard. We critique effort first. We can deal with some of the errors. As long as you’re coachable and you give us great effort, we’ll get it right.”
--- True freshman safety Derek Williams has “come on very fast,” Sark said.
He arrived this summer and has come in with a mindset to be the best player he can be. Williams has natural football IQ and is a very versatile player. Great length, speed and not afraid of contact.
--- On the running backs …
“You have to play with a level of understanding. The runners have to understand the runs. It’s not just taking the ball and going wherever you want,” Sark said. “It’s really understanding blocking schemes, understanding the power of the play, where’s the double team and anticipating predicated off the defense where the ball should hit.”
The OL produced some really clean holes on Monday and the backs were able to hit them on time.
--- On Ja’Tavion Sanders …
They feel like there’s so much more room for growth for him. They feel he can take it to another level.
“He’s such a dynamic playmaker. He’s got great hands. The biggest thing to me, he’s so smart,” Sark said. “JT Sanders is probably one of the smartest players on the offensive side of the ball for us. He’s got an extremely high football IQ. We ask a lot of him. He understands what we’re trying to do when we call specific plays, and then he runs his routes accordingly.”
