Steve Sarkisian on Silas Bolden: "We don't view him as a specialty player"

Anwar Richardson

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Apr 24, 2014
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Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian addressed the media after practice on Monday.

Here are the highlights.

--- Sarkisian said he was pleased with the scrimmage on Saturday. He said the team moved at a better pace offensively and was pleased with the special teams unit. In addition, Sarkisian said they only had one turnover during the scrimmage, which was a huge improvement compared to the previous week.

--- Sarkisian’s response when asked if they could obtain a running back from the transfer portal: “I mean, we definitely have a spot that we can utilize. A lot of times this late in the game, it’s probably not a traditional transfer, maybe more of a graduate transfer, something of the sort. So we're kind of looking at all of our options there. We just don't want to take a body, to take a body. If it's someone that can help us in some capacity, maybe limited role, bigger role, whatever that is, we are looking at all options.”

--- Sarkisian was asked about Jake Major and said, “We’re great health-wise.”

“At this juncture of training camp, we’ve had a couple of tough injuries, season-ending injuries that you have to deal with. But we're really not missing many players at all that are that are out. We’re making some business decisions as a staff on what we need to do. And a guy like Jake Majors, who's been here for 15 years and started in about 100 games, I don't know if he necessarily needs that scrimmage, but I needed some of those other centers to get some work. You make those types of decisions on what you think is in the best interest of your team long run.

“It's probably not a whole lot different from NFL preseason football. There's a reason the starters may get a couple of series, and maybe a half about that third preseason game. They're getting them ready for showtime, and so we're having to look at it the same way.”

--- Sarkisian said his running backs participate in Thud periods and limit tackling of those players.

--- Sarkisian said he has seven receivers that he feels comfortable playing entering this season. He praised Ryan Niblett and said that receiver has been impressive over the last 1½ weeks. Sarkisian said they have found the right combination of receivers.

“It’s shifting back maybe to a little bit more of that NFL mentality of putting guys in very specific spots, rather than just three guys out there the whole time,” Sarkisian said. “It’s a shift and a change, and that's okay. I think it's the right combination of players on the field is probably more important than who's the top three.

When Sarkisian was asked if they were deep enough to sub three receivers at one time, he said, “Easily.”

--- Sarkisian on Silas Bolden: “We don't view him as a specialty player. We view him as a regular every-down player like any other receiver, and I think he's going to have a real impact on our team this fall.”

--- Sarkisian said they will have a mock game on Saturday to prepare for the season opener against Colorado State. The final scrimmage will occur at 2:30 p.m.

--- Sarkisian’s response when I asked him if they were recruiting anticipating 105 scholarships next year or 85: “It's under discussion in our building. As you look at the potential numbers and what they look like, we still have a current roster of players on our team now as well. I was always a proponent from day one that I didn't want walk-ons to go away. I think they serve a lot of value in your locker room and on your team. What does that number look like for us if in fact it’s a hard-fast 105? Does that mean we have to have 105 scholarship kids? Or can we have 90 or 95 and still have a space and a place for walk-on types or even partial scholarships? There's a lot of things that are unknown for a still.

“Does it allow us maybe a few more numbers? Maybe. Does it always have to be a high school kid, or maybe those are portal spots that we can look into and we can just focus on the 25 high school kids. There's a lot of ways of doing it. We're trying to be really kind of diligent in our approach of just looking at every angle. We're really trying to tap into a lot of guys in the NFL and how they manage it that way to see what's best for us. I'm sure everybody's going to do it a little bit differently, and we just want to make sure we do what's best for us.”

--- Sarkisian was asked to give an example of Quinn Ewers's evolution into a leader. He said Ewers texted him 30 minutes after a practice last week and asked if he could have a players-only meeting to discuss two or three things. Sarkisian praised Ewers for stepping up as a leader.

--- Sarkisian said Anthony Hill’s rapport with [Coach Johnny] Nansen [co-defensive coordinator/linebackers] has played a major role in the linebacker’s improvement this offseason.
 

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