Joe Cook and Eric Nahlin talk Tuesday's Texas Longhorns football practice and notes from Steve Sarkisian's press conference.
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Texas football practice notes, Steve Sarkisian speaks
Welcome to the Inside Texas football YouTube channel powered by InsideTexas.com. We are live at just after five talking a little bit about Texas Tuesday practice and some of Steve Sarkeesian's press conference comments. I'm Joe Cook. I got Eric Nolene with me. Make sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and also head to InsideTexas.com use the promo code IT1, get two months of Inside Texas for just $1. This is a little taste of what some of our practice reports are going to be like, but Eric, Steve Sarkeesian described today's practice as a hard-nosed and physical one NDKR on Tuesday right before the orange and white game. Yeah, you know, I think he was trying to ensure that they knock the rust off. There was a lot of mistackles in the previous scrimmage on Saturday. They've had some other practices where tackling was lacking. I think that's the number one that he wanted to take care of, especially before the spring game on Saturday. You know, it was also hot and humid. It was a long practice, so he was really putting him through the grinder, I think, one last time before the scrimmage. You know, say what you want, the scrimmage is probably not going to be as taxing as fans are hoping for. I mean, you know, I don't know if fans are hoping for, but you know, there's an entertainment value they seek when they go, but Sarkees trying to, on the other side of it, just trying to keep everybody healthy and just really get through the end of spring ball, knock on wood. They've been fortunate so far. But overall, yeah, it was a hard-nosed physical practice. They worked a lot of a two-point conversion, and I think, you know, anytime you're on the goal line, the stakes are higher, even if it's in practice, the competitive fires are stoked. The offense rolled out some new plays, the defense hadn't seen. It was really testing the defense's assignment soundness. So I think that, you know, again, goal line is, people are going to get hyped up on goal lines. You know, it's basically a one-on-one drill down there. It's physicality. It's rain supreme. And again, the coaches were really emphasizing physicality and tackling. So, yeah, Sarkees nailed it, obviously he's always candid with the press, but, you know, I want to dive in a little bit deeper and see, hey, what made it hard knows what made it physical. It sounds like from what you've heard that the physicality had a thought of enthusiasm paired along with it, to where when they go into that two-point conversion and they know it's mono and mono, that actually gets them hyped up and gets them, maybe, I don't know if they're playing better, but playing a little bit harder and trying to answer the bell in the situation. Well, I mean, you have to, you know, the offense is rolling out trick plays on that. If it's two-point conversion, you know, they're going to pull out all the stops, a lot of misdirection. So it really forces the defense to anchor down, not only with, you know, physicality, but also mentally, you know, you've got to be, you've got to be on your guy. You've got to be a Simon sound. We saw that break down a couple of times with Texas last year in some key moments. It was interesting to hear about that, but yeah, two-point conversion, I think, brought out the physicality, but in general, it was a huge point of emphasis for the coaches. Again, you know, any time this team or this program has some issues, SARC works very, very hard in fixing those. I think it always says what you emphasize is what you get. And obviously, you know, we've heard a lot about tackling. They're clearly emphasizing the importance of that, but again, you know, nobody's super concerned about it. I think a lot of it is just rusty-ness because they haven't tackled a whole lot this spring. They'll worry about that a little bit more in August. So Steve Sarkeesian praised the quarterback play throughout the course of spring, not only today, but throughout other days. Quinn Ewers has gotten his praise, Trey Owens. Even Cole Lord, a walk-on four-stringer got a compliment from Steve Sarkeesian for his play in Saturday's scrimmage. But SARC talked today how he thought arch-manning may have had his best practice as a Longhorn and what you heard when talking with sources back set up. SARC talked a little bit about stepping up in the pocket, but the athleticism that arch shows as well. And that's something that you were able to corroborate when talking to your sources. Yeah. You know, Arches is a very, very fiery competitor. He was compared to Sam Ellinger recently with his toughness, athleticism, and just his competitiveness. And I think on Saturday in the scrimmage, he was forcing him a little bit. So what he did better on Saturday, he was what he was playing within himself, playing within the offense, more of a game manager. But at the same time, when the opportunity presented itself, he did use his leg. So yeah, SARC stepping up in the pocket, you know, that aligns with what we're talking about, more of a game manager when he needs to be. But again, he's an athlete, he's a genuine athlete, he's got some good speed and he wants to make plays. Sometimes he'll force the ball a little too much, at least that's what he did on Saturday. And the Texas defense often invites that. They want you to do that. So they'd rather you do that than take the underneath easy money. Today he took the easy money and I think SARC, they really caught SARC's attention. You know, one of the first things that SARC mentioned was, I think it was Arches first or second play. You know, we're all expecting number 16 back there against Texas Tech to fire some rocket to John's. They cook. No, he goes and scrambles. And that's the best. I think the perfect start to his career is like, yeah, he's got that arm, but there's that athleticism and everybody thinks, oh, it's just Peyton and Eli, you know, the 2023 version. And now the 2024 version, it's a little bit different. He's a lot more like his grandfather and sounds like it. That was corroborated today on the defensive side of the ball. One of the players that received mention from from SARC, Asian was Jeray Bledso. I think he's a third year player now and someone who's always been described as extremely athletic, having some special capabilities. But now he's starting to show those special capabilities a little bit more often on the regular. Yeah, I mean, it's been it was been a quiet spring for him until the scrimmage, you know, he had a sack and, you know, he's extremely athletic. We all know that. You can see it in high school with, you know, his junior tape when he broke out. Once his tape got out, everybody went crazy, like, whoa, what the heck this kid's been hiding under, under stone. He's a total freak, very uncommon, extremely flexible, bouncy kid and plays with physicality. The issue with him has been consistency. So lately the consistency's been there. And what we mean by that is, you know, is he in the right gap? Is he in the right place at the right time where he's supposed to be as the place drawn up rather than freelancing or getting lost in the wash? He's got to he's got to be quick to the point of attack and quick to where he needs to be. In the last couple of practices, that's exactly what he's been and, you know, it's no coincidence that run fits are starting to look a little bit better, you know, but they really need this guy to step up because he can be a difference maker and he can be a difference maker this year. Maybe not down and down. But the effect that he has on games compared to the relative to the amount of snaps he gets could pretend a very, very bright future going for. I still think I'm still very high on him. Just everybody develops on their own timeline, but they need, they need Jerry to come up, come with it the rest of season, especially in August and give them some snaps. I'm glad you said the words specifically down to down because if you remember Anthony Hills sack against Alabama, Jeray Bledso is on the field for that. And that's kind of a special situation. That's, you know, obviously a special place, Brian Denny stadium, but that's third and long and they had him on the field. I think we understand that he's got that athleticism to really make pass rush a strength of his, but he's got to be able to play that first and second down as well. One more thing on the offense, Steve Sarkeesian mentioned the freshman running, but running backs that includes Christian Clark. That includes Jared Gibson, Jared Bigson as he nicknamed him and the bigson. Yeah, the auto correct got me on that, but I decided to keep it, you know, one time. It fits really well, but that seems like a position where you think, oh, just give them the ball and they'll go. As we learned with Cedric Baxter, it takes a lot in this offense to understand where to go landmarks to hit, of course, pass protection and even catching the ball out of the backfield. We have a sense that Baxter and Blue are going to lead the way, but Clark and Gibson are giving Texas a lot of options there in that running back room to provide a really deep room. Yeah, it's really deep. We're not anticipating a breakout for either one of them. There's just too much of a log jam in front of them. However, they're both having very good springs. You know, I'm a little bit surprised by where Clark is, you know, coming from Arizona. And really, he's always been in a platoon out in Arizona. So he wasn't, and he played off, he played both sides of the ball earlier in his career. So he wasn't, he's not a nuanced running back, at least that's what I thought. But he's assimilated very well. The big news today was Gibson was with the two some. I think, you know, I think the word on him is that, you know, he's got a lot of carries at a high level of football, planted IMG and we expected him to be ready. But what I love about hearing about him is that his physicality translates. He doesn't just look physical, he's running downhill and looking to smoke a defender if he can. Yeah, he's got good acceleration. We knew that already. So I think both are going to play this year, you know, largely in fourth quarters, I would be somewhat surprised if either one of them red-shirted, I don't think that's going to be the plan for him. And I think I bought by August, we're going to be hearing even more things and they're going to be ready to play in September if needed if, you know, obviously Texas has the future opportunities to blow some people out. They're going to want to rest their lead horses. And I include Trey Wiseman in there. I think Trey Wiseman is going to get a lot of carries, or at least a lot of touches, maybe some screens and stuff. So there's three tiers to me with the starting two, CJ Baxter, Jane Blue, then Trey Wiseman to right beneath him. And then after that, you got the two freshmen that I think are going to be ready to play in September. One of the things that's always impressed me about that bunch is that you look at Gibson, and I almost said Bigson again, you look at Gibson, goes to IMG Academy, but he always shows off some advanced physical traits. And then with Christian Clark, graduating early from Arizona, extremely uncommon. I don't think it was even possible until a couple of years ago, Bijon Robinson didn't do it. Santana Wilson in the same 2024 class, he didn't do it. Christian Clark was able to get it done. I think that shows the maturity he has in addition to all his physical gifts. Before we get out of here, got to answer a question from our buddy, Brett Nelson, over under 4.5 arch touchdowns in 24. What do you think on that one? Oh, man, I think he's set that at a pretty good number. If I've got to think about it, I think he did your job, Brett. Thanks for the super chat, by the way. Let me see here. I'm going to go over. And part of that has to do with, you know, Quinn years missing some time in both seasons at Texas. And I think at that point, it's kind of a foregone conclusion if, you know, because arch, arch is going to get a couple and mop up duty. And then if arch gets a start, he's going to put up three. And don't be surprised if you put some up with his legs, man. He's not just called like, you know, fast for a quarterback. He's legitimately got some wheels. You know, he was faster than a couple of safeties last year, which turned out to be not good, you know, for the safeties, but it's good for the quarterback. So arch is a playmaker. He's not just a pocket manning. I mean, I know that's what everybody thinks he's going to score with his legs too. I think another interesting question is where do you put the rushing touchdowns at? I think if you did 1.5, I'd be tempted to take the over on that one as well. But Eric, this is just a little taste. We're going to have a ton of stuff over on InsideTexas.com. So head to InsideTexas.com. You can get one, you can get two months, excuse me, for just $1 if you use the promo code IT1 and make sure you like this video, subscribe to the channel. We're going to have a bunch of awesome stuff leading up into the spring game. They have one more practice on Thursday, should be a little bit lighter, we expect. So they're ready to go on Saturday and can play as close to a real game, I think, as you could get in the spring game. I think they have 81 scholarship players not in the portal and on the roster. They have the full core of walk-ons ready. So should be a pretty sizable bunch out there and able to provide a pretty good product to fans out there. So thank you for watching this video. Make sure you head to InsideTexas.com. Make sure you like the video and we'll see you next time on the InsideTexas Football YouTube channel powered by InsideTexas.com. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Joe Cook and Eric Nahlin talk Tuesday's Texas Longhorns football practice and notes from Steve Sarkisian's press conference.
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