Steve Sarkisian discusses Texas' first pre-season scrimmage
For the first time in training camp, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was able to watch his team go through a simulated game situation during an afternoon scrimmage at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium.
It was just the second fully-padded practice of the Longhorns’ preseason camp, with day one in full pads coming on Thursday and Sarkisian scheduling a lighter practice on Friday ahead of the weekend scrimmage. As a result, Sarkisian said he modified the format to where there was live tackling in the front half of the scrimmage and “thud tempo” in the second part. Sarkisian mentioned following the scrimmage that no players were injured outside of normal bumps and bruises common through a week of training camp.
During his opening comments, Sarkisian spoke about how defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski’s side of the ball had the advantage for most of the day.
“I thought defensively, we had a really good day,” Sarkisian said. “I thought the guys, for the most part, played sound, played disciplined. They didn’t give any freebies, when one of the key components of defense is not giving up those explosive plays because of breakdowns up front or in the secondary. I thought guys were competitive and got people on the ground.”
With the defense finding success, that means the offense had its share of struggles throughout the day.
“I thought offensively, the day was probably summed up by two things: one, kind of some missed opportunities,” Sarkisian said. “I thought there were some plays there to be had whether we missed a read at quarterback, or didn’t make a play at wideout, or maybe missed a read at running back, that set the tone a little bit for the guys offensively.”
He continued with the second aspect: “It’s about that same discipline of execution of when that opportunity strikes, you’ve got to have that ability to make your play. I think in the end, it was really good for us to get out in the heat, in the sun, in DKR because I did think the weather took it’s toll on us a little bit today. And I don’t think necessarily from a conditioning standpoint physically, but I think a little bit of the mental conditioning of dealing with that.”
“As we all know come September 4th, we’re kicking off at 3:30. We’re going to have to be able to operate at a very high level in the same circumstances. We got to improve that from this week to next week.”
Sarkisian mentioned he believed it was a good first week of practice. Week two will begin on Monday following an off day Sunday.
Here are some more of Sarkisian’s takeaways from the first preseason scrimmage.
On quarterbacks Casey Thompson and Hudson Card
“We didn’t want to play it conservative today. I wanted to push the limit with them and look at the decision making, which I thought we did. And quite frankly, neither guy played up to the standard that I view as acceptable, and I think what they view as acceptable. That’s, I think, part of the process. Both of those guys had a really good first week, then all of a sudden they go to a scrimmage format and we didn’t apply the things that we had done all week long, and that’s the key to the drill.”
On positions he feels good about
“I feel really good about our defensive front. That’s pretty consistent of where we were at in the spring. I think we’ve got a deep group across that line of scrimmage. I think now with the addition of (DeMarvion Overshown) at ‘backer, that front is very active. They’re disruptive.”
“I feel good about the running back position. I think I feel confident we’re four-deep at that position with Bijan (Robinson), Roschon (Johnson), Keilan (Robinson), and (Jonathon) Brooks.”
“I feel good about the tight ends. I think Cade (Brewer) and Jared (Wiley) are both playing well. I think Gunnar Helm is coming. I think (Ja’Tavion Sanders) and Juan (Davis) are coming.”
“I feel good about what’s happening in the secondary. I think we’re finding the right mix of people.”
On the defense’s performance during the scrimmage
“I’d probably be a lot more concerned if the offense came out and had a great day and we didn’t play good defense today. I think pretty typical of this time in training camp that the defense can be a little bit ahead. What was encouraging was I thought the defense played really sound today. There weren’t breakdowns in coverages and different things for the most part, but again this is a complimentary game. It’s a team football game. It’s always challenging when you’re going against yourself.”
“If the defense can play sound and physical up front and not give up explosive plays, that can make it hard on an offense to put together eight, ten, twelve play drives because you have to be right that many times in a row. that’s one of the underlying themes of our defense is making you earn it, so that part was really positive.”
On his concern level at quarterback
“I’m probably harder on that position than any other position on the field from a coaching perspective. We demand a lot of them. We’re not going to settle, so the point of that is we’re going to keep pushing them to be the best that they can be so we can be the best that we can be. So I have to find that right threshold with them to know where their ceiling is right now.”
“The only way you can find out is by putting them in those scenarios to get a level of understanding of where they’re at, because the worst thing I would want is to go all training camp long with training wheels on those two guys, and then come the first game and I’m taking the training wheels off, and I don’t know that they can’t ride a bike yet.”
“We take the training wheels off early. We force them to learn to ride a bike. Like a parent teaching your kid to ride a bike at some point, you’ve got to let go of the seat. And they might fall, but that’s okay. We’ve got to get them back up. We’ve got to get them back on the bike, and we’ve got to let them learn to ride again.”
On wide receiver during the scrimmage
“I thought we played okay, quite frankly, at wideout today. We need to be better. I don’t think we played with quite the sense of urgency that we’re accustomed to playing with. I think there was a little bit of a combination of them, the quarterbacks, and just they were a little off. I expect more out of them. I’ve seen more out of them, and so I expect more out of them.”
On the secondary
“From a secondary standpoint, a guy who’s really played well throughout the first week has been Anthony Cook. I’ve been impressed with him. He’s played physical. He’s playing sound. I think (Brenden) Schooler has had a really good first week where he’s at from the back-end perspective.”
“I think (D’Shawn) Jamison has had a really good first week. Now, the other guys, not that they haven’t; BJ Foster has been pretty effective. I think Jerrin Thompson’s had a good week. Through all that, we’ve got some depth there. We’re trying to find the right mix, which we talked about early on in camp, of what’s that right mix with the nickel, the safety, things of that nature.”
Cover photo by Joe Cook for Inside Texas
