Syllabus Week: What Gavin Holmes, Ryan Sanborn, and Jalen Catalon need to work on
Depending on who you ask, “syllabus week” isn’t limited to a seven-day period. Some recognize syllabus week as lasting one day, others recognize it for an entire month.
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Whatever your preferred way to celebrate the beginning of the semester is, any newly-minted Texas Longhorns football player has a learning curve they have to navigate as they settle in on campus, begin workouts with Torre Becton, and learn other aspects of the program in preparation for spring football practices.
Rather than just telling each new Longhorn making their first few steps on the Forty Acres to “learn the playbook and get to know your teammates,” Inside Texas will look for specific areas for each mid-year enrollee (plus one summer transfer) to focus on during their first few weeks and months on campus.
Gavin Holmes, DB
During his most recent season with the Demon Deacons, Holmes tallied 23 tackles and nine passes defended, both career bests. Wake Forest asked Holmes to play a lot of man coverage, often in the boundary, on some of the top wideouts in the ACC.
He could still play in a role akin to what he was playing in Winston-Salem, N.C., but Pete Kwiatkowski and Terry Joseph run a defense with much more zone coverage. Even in an era where zone coverage has a lot of man principles, Holmes’ resume lacks a ton of experience in the more zone-centric aspects of Texas’ coverage assignments.
In addition to keeping his overall coverage skills sharp, Holmes will need to work on training his eyes and his feet to know where to look on a given play and how to get there efficiently. He has the athleticism to do it given the amount of man he played as part of his prior responsibilities, but it still requires an adjustment he’ll have to work closely with Joseph and others to make if he wants to step in for D’Shawn Jamison (or potentially Ryan Watts).
Ryan Sanborn, P
Keep on kickin’ and keep on holdin’.
There isn’t a ton to add for a specialist other than continue to specialize. Sanborn is the easy favorite to take over for Daniel Trejo at punter and the duo of Hudson Card or Zach Edwards at holder.
One aspect Sanborn might want to improve on is the pure ability to boom punts. His average dropped from 43.3 yards per punt in 2021 to 41.7 yards per punt during the most recent season. That resulted in a higher percentage of his kicks being fair caught, but a far lower percentage traveling 50-plus yards.
There is value in finding a balance between distance and hang time. Sanborn, Jeff Banks, and special teams analyst Jeff Crosby should have plenty of time to discern the right mix.
Despite his inclusion with the two other transfers, Sanborn does not arrive in Austin until the summer. However, there should be enough footballs and open grass at Stanford for him to work on his craft.
Jalen Catalon, DB
Anthony Cook leaves big shoes to fill at one of the two safety positions in the Texas defense, but Catalon has an opportunity to step in and make an immediate impact.
Health is the most important thing for Catalon because the ability is there. Offseason strength and conditioning that helps to strengthen his shoulder for the grind of boundary safety, his likely destination, is paramount.
So too is grasping what will be a different role. Catalon operated in Barry Odom’s 3-3-5, and was often on the field with two other safeties. His boundary role at Texas will feature many of the same responsibilities as his middle safety role with Arkansas, but there will be adjustments Catalon will need to nail down.
A plug-and-play safety was one of the biggest offseason wants for Texas. Catalon fits the bill, but he’ll need to get his mind and body ready for the role he came to Texas for.
