If his number is called, Charles Wright will be prepared says his high school offensive coordinator
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked a lot about quarterbacks during his Thursday Zoom, but declined on multiple occasions to get into specifics regarding who would start versus UTSA on Saturday, the overall health of his quarterbacks, or if one of them even took snaps in practice.
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Overall, he said all three got better.
“They all, in my opinion, progressed this week,” Sarkisian said. “Quinn (Ewers) and Hudson (Card) got healthier and healthier as the week went on. I thought Charles (Wright) did a good job of managing the more reps that he got. I felt like his comfort level, his confidence was as good as I’ve ever seen it, or better. That’s a real positive for us that all three of those guys got better as the week went on.”
That’s about all he revealed.
Ewers is not likely to play. Card was noticeably hobbling during the matchup with Alabama. Wright, who has appeared in two games but never in a contest in question, warmed up on the sidelines to get ready to face the Crimson Tide.
If Wright is called upon Saturday, it’ll be a test of the former Austin High quarterback’s preparation. One person who knows the type of effort Wright put in ahead of games is former Austin High offensive coordinator and current Thrall head coach Aaron Vaeacek.
Inside Texas caught up with Vanecek on Thursday to learn more about Wright, a 6-foot-1, 202-pound redshirt freshman.
Charles was committed to Iowa State before the Texas offer came along. How excited were you to see that the previous staff for the University of Texas was willing to give Charles a chance?
AV: “I was really, really excited, especially given that during that process most schools, your TCUs, your Techs, all your schools that were in that realm, they all had a couple guys on their board higher. It was just frustrating for him that you get that early Iowa State offer, then you get NC State, Texas State, North Texas, stuff like that. But all those bigger schools are saying ‘nah, you’re not quite the guy we want.’ (Mike) Yurcich, he came out one morning, watched him throw, and had him do a lot of different stuff, and was really, really impressed. It’s just like they all say, they’re all looking for a certain type of build, and all of them said the same thing: ‘I wish he was a little taller.’ Yurcich was the first one who was like ‘I don’t give a crap how tall he is. He can make every throw, is a competitor, and is coachable. That was pretty exciting for him.”
What makes you believe that he’s ready for whatever comes for him Saturday considering you’ve seen his preparation throughout those years at Austin High?
AV: “I have no doubt he’s going to do well. He’s an extreme preparer. I don’t think a lot of people that aren’t in the area understand that at Austin High, we were always undersized up front. You never had a running back that could really go, and you had average speed and size at wide receiver. They did their thing. They were coachable. They did their job, but Charles never had Garrett Wilson to throw to. Charles never had Jaden Greathouse to throw to, these guys that all these other Austin-area quarterbacks had to throw to. He’s preparing against teams in high school where we’re going in (and saying) ‘Charles, you basically have to be perfect. I’m sorry. You have to execute everything. You have to be on point.’ He accepted those challenges and I have no doubt that he has been preparing for it.”
“When I was in school, I was around Colt McCoy’s age. I remember always hearing how bad Colt was early, and how he came into that second year and took off and took the show. Going into his redshirt freshman year, he took the job from Jevan Snead because he had improved so much. That’s pretty similar from what I hear from Charles and what I hear from other people around. The guy was struggling his first year there, and he’s just improved so much. The things that he says when I talk to him, just how things were starting to slow down and click for him, I don’t think it’s any shock that you hear bits and pieces throughout fall camp of ‘you know who was actually good today in the scrimmage was Charles Wright.’ I’m really excited for him.”
He seems like he’s well-suited for whatever offense, even Sarkisian’s where they may have him throwing it pretty deep.
AV: “You look at a lot of his highlights from high school, he had to throw a perfect deep ball to some of the guys he had. Not that we didn’t have good players – we did – but it ain’t a guy like Xavier Worthy where you can throw and you can be a little off and that dude will make you right. In high school, one of the things that he developed, and this is a testament to him, his junior year he didn’t have a great year throwing the vertical ball. When we met in the offseason going into his senior year, our efficiency with vertical balls was way down. It was a multitude of things. It wasn’t just throwing the ball, it was when to decide to check down, when to decide to take off and run, just don’t take the sack, stuff like that. He committed himself that whole offseason. Going into his senior year he wanted to vastly improve his vertical game. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the arm talent, it was just something that he was lacking efficiency wise. I tell you what, going into his senior year, he didn’t miss many. You take a guy that early that understands his weakness from the previous season, commits himself to fixing it, and actually does fix it and actually succeeds. I think he ended up, it was like 14.6 or 14.8 yards per play whenever we threw a vertical ball, and that includes incompletions, sacks. That’s pretty dadgum good. You get plus side of the 50, when I was coaching him you get to the 40, he was pretty much dead on with any vertical ball that he could throw.”
What are most looking forward to seeing him on Saturday if his number is called?
AV: “When we talk, we don’t really ever talk about football. He’s got enough stuff now with guys that are taking care of it and helping him. Now it’s just ‘I’m here if you need me emotionally. I’m here if you need me spiritually.’ I’m just a fan now of him. When I watch him, I’m not going to pick apart anything and say ‘oh he should have made that throw’ or ‘oh he should have done this.’ I’m going to enjoy it more like if I was watching my son play youth football. I’m going to appreciate the opportunity and appreciate watching him compete.”
