DJ Campbell to start at right guard on Saturday and other notes from Steve Sarkisian's Thursday Zoom
As is typical around this time of year when a program elects not to release a depth chart, questions focus on who will start, who will backup, and who might see reserve or special teams action. That held true again on Thursday as Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian met with the media over Zoom one last time before the Longhorns kick off the 2023 season Saturday at 2:30 p.m. versus Rice.
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Sarkisian said his program has a depth chart and coyly explained members of the media will have it by Saturday, but he also revealed a few details about what his two-deep will look like most notably at right guard. Sarkisian said Monday both DJ Campbell and Cole Hutson, who started every game to Jake Majors’ right last year, would both play this Saturday. On Thursday, he explained Campbell will get the first snaps at the position.
“DJ is going to go head out there first for us,” Sarkisian said.
With both likely to see playing time, how will Sarkisian handle that rotation?
“We just have to monitor the whole thing at the line of scrimmage,” Sarkisian said. “I’d love to tell you we’re going to play in 75 degree weather in perfect conditions Saturday, but it’s not. It’s going to be warm. We just have to monitor it. We could have a total of six plays in two drives. We could have a total of 15-18 plays in two drives. That’s going to dictate a little bit of where we’re at and when we need to start rotating our people.”
Another ongoing competition with more attention considering the players involved is the backup quarterback spot behind Quinn Ewers. Sarkisian mentioned Monday that his staff planned to make a determination on Thursday as to whether Maalik Murphy or Arch Manning would be the No. 2 guy.
Did either do enough to separate?
“We’ll find out,” Sarkisian said with a smirk.
The final competition on offense that’s caught Texas fans’ attention is at running back. Jonathon Brooks and CJ Baxter both present quality options, and Inside Texas has reported in recent weeks Baxter is making a case to be RB1 that grows stronger by the day.
Sarkisian said RB is a position that will need more data in order to make a stronger determination about who the lead back is.
“I think that’s a good question, and it might be a little better one next Monday coming out of the game,” Sarkisian said. “There’s going to be some feel here on Saturday. I’m going to have to get a feel for how it looks, what it feels like, how these guys are running, the way they’re pass protecting, the way their knowledge base of the offense in-game looks like and feels like. I’d love to tell you what happens Saturday is going to be how it goes, but I think there’s going to be some moving parts to this thing and some things we’re going to have to adjust and shift as it moves forward.
Other notes and quotes
- “It’s an exciting time, and I think our players did a really good job this week of being present day in and day out. It was something that we really challenged them with. We came in Monday morning for the team meeting, and you could feel that everybody was a little giddy. They were excited. They knew it was game week, and they wanted it to be game day on Monday. The reality of it is, we needed a good week of preparation and we challenged them to be present each day and to focus on what we were working on today. I think they did that all the way up and through practice this morning.”
- Sarkisian was asked where members of his 2023 class, specifically Baxter, Malik Muhammad, Anthony Hill, and Derek Williams, fit in within his rotation: “I think all the guys you just mentioned are going to play Saturday. They’ll be out there relatively early in the ballgame. That’s not to mention Johntay Cook. Liona Lefau is another guy who has stood out that way. DeAndre Moore will be out there. I think we’ve got a good group of guys that will contribute on offense and defense and if you’re doing that, then surely they’re going to contribute on special teams. We put a lot of pride in special teams and I think these guys are earning their opportunities. Tre Wisner‘s been a guy that’s done a nice job on teams as well.”
