Addressing Coach Sarkisian's four main areas of concern ahead of Week 1

Amidst all the craziness of the SEC announcing changes to the number of conference games and rules surrounding out-of-conference matchups, you may have forgotten that we have football this week.

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Texas won’t be playing tomorrow; they’ll let Farmageddon and Tarleton State take center stage, but we’ve officially hit single-digit days before Texas and Ohio State match up in Columbus.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has spent this week beginning the installment of their game plan for the Buckeyes, as well as ironing out anything that felt behind in the past few weeks of fall camp. By the start of school and practice on Monday for these players, all eyes will be turned toward a very different Ohio State team than the one they faced just seven months ago.

Two new coordinators, a new QB, and a defense needing to replace eight starters. There’s not much that Sarkisian can look at schematically from the past to learn about the 2025 Ohio State team. That means a lot of Texas’ prep starts with their own roster, making sure a fairly young team is ready to begin the season at the highest energy as opposed to years past, where Texas played their big OOC matchup in Week Two.

On Sunday, Sarkisian told reporters he had four main concerns for a Week 1 game, all of which are likely haunting the coach even more this season knowing it’s Ohio State, not Colorado State, they’re prepping for:

“What are your major concerns when you go into a Week One, right? You think about ball security. You think about tackling on defense. You think about the pre-snap penalties, and then you think about special teams. Those are the main things that are like, ‘Okay, how do we take care of the ball really well? How do we work on tackling? And what’s that fine line of tackling too much and not enough,” Sarkisian said. “Before the ball’s even snapped, whether that’s false starts, whether that’s jumping off sides on defense, having the discipline there, and then, how do you play sound on special teams?”

The four concerns Sarkisian, now entering his 12th season as a head coach in college football, has learned to identify as conditions that are hard to practice.

How do you practice pre-snap penalties that you’ll be avoiding in a 100,000-fan-filled stadium while sitting on your own practice field? How do you practice tackling to its fullest when you’re trying to protect your own players?

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Ball security is an intriguing topic because it can come from two different areas: fumbles and interceptions. On the fumble side of things, there is reason to be confident.

Texas’ top two backs, CJ Baxter and Tre Wisner, have combined for just three fumbles on over 350 career carries between the two of them. As much as Jaydon Blue was a great back for Texas, he was the one to worry about heading into a game like this. Pair that with a return team built on veterans like Wisner in special teams, and it’s one spot you can feel a bit better about.

Now for interceptions. Arch Manning is going to be a great Longhorn. He’s probably going to play very well next Saturday, but he will force throws. He wants to hit the big shot and the big play. It’s not the end of the world if he throws a deep INT that basically turns into an arm punt, but late-drive and late-game throws cannot be as dangerous as some of his against ULM last season.

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Tackling is one where, frankly, we just won’t know. Sark named Jelani McDonald, Anthony Hill, and Derek Williams as his best tacklers on the defense. Those are the kinds of players you want to see: a LB, a multi-purpose DB, and a safety. The worst tackling culprit on the team last year was Michael Taaffe; outside of him, most players had a fairly respectable missed tackle %. Taaffe is going to have to be better in Year Five, no question, but a lot of good ones returned. That wasn’t the strength of departing safety Andrew Mukuba. Texas might see better returns from Taaffe, and even some extra juice from Trey Moore in a new role and youngster Ty’Anthony Smith. But this is one we’ll know when we know.

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Last season, Texas had a pre-snap penalty problem. It almost allowed the crowd to get into the Michigan game early. Texas’ main culprit in 2024, Cam Williams, has since left, but there have been reports of this being a problem in practice, especially from his replacement, Brandon Baker.

Two points of positivity in this spot: Sarkisian drastically emphasized this concern in recent practice, and Baker is going up against the best edge rushers in the nation. Sarkisian noted that the last two weeks of practice have seen a lot of focus on the pre-snap ability of the offense, and he likes the spot it’s in now. That’s about all you can say at this point.

As for Baker, he’s practicing up. OSU has some good, not great, pass rushers. Texas may have the best in the nation in Colin Simmons lined up against him. Baker is being pushed in practice because he MUST be good for Texas this year. He’s getting all the prep he possibly can for his first career start.

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The best for last: special teams. Similar to tackling, we’ll know when we know. The nice thing is that people (cough, cough, SP+) already come in with bad expectations for this unit. If Texas is even the 70th-best special teams, most rating systems would have them as the clear No. 1 team. Mason Shipley doesn’t seem like he’s as nails as a Tucker or Dicker, but he shouldn’t miss at the same volume as Bert Auburn. He should have the leg to hit from 50+, as well.

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There’s a lot of reason to like a few things: Jack Bouwmeester sounds like a stud at punter. Some of the best special teamers return, and the likes of Warren Roberson and Smith should be able to turn theoretical value into real value. Lastly, the team is prioritizing kick blocking in 2025. They’ve already blocked one in a scrimmage. Those kinds of plays drastically swing games, and if the return game is going to be the “safe” part of the special teams unit, let Jeff Banks send the house.