Three Things to know from Sark: Maalik Murphy approaches his second start, K-State's offense, safety rotation sans Jalen Catalon

Things are going well for the Texas Longhorns.

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Texas is 7-1, its best start to a season since 2009. Steve Sarkisian‘s team is ranked No. 7 in the AP poll and in the College Football Playoff rankings. His program faces No. 25 Kansas State this Saturday in a nationally televised game at 11 a.m. in a sold-out Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

With all that burnt orange momentum, how does he make sure his team stays on course?

“I think my job as a coach is to point out the areas where we are doing things very well,” Sarkisian said Thursday during his weekly Zoom. “I try to celebrate that with the guys and I’m very proud of them for the things that we do well. I also know championship teams continue to get better. They continue to improve. We have to, as a coach, even when you win, find areas where we can improve. That’s really important as well, that players feel like they’re continually getting coached.”

Sarkisian said it’s easier now than in previous eras to keep players up to speed on areas where they can make improvements. Not only can the coaches provide plenty of feedback, but that feedback exists on social media and in the regular media, where analysis and criticism is easy to find.

But even with there being things to correct, Sarkisian wants his team to know they should celebrate the current while also looking to make future strides as the Horns enter the final four games of the regular season.

“I’m not going to apologize to anybody for being 7-1,” Sarkisian said. “I think we are a very good football team. We aren’t perfect. We aren’t a finished product. There are still plenty of things for us to improve upon, which we’re going to need to improve upon, on this journey that we’re on together.”

Here are three more things to know from Sark’s Thursday Zoom.

Maalik Murphy

Maalik Murphy is in line to make his second career start versus Kansas State on Saturday. Following his 16-for-25, 170-yard day with two touchdowns and a pick versus BYU, Sarkisian spoke Thursday about the comfort level No. 6 has entering Saturday’s game with the Wildcats.

“I don’t want to say he’s quite 100 percent comfortable yet,” Sarkisian said. “If anything, he’s going into start No. 2. I think there’s reduced anxiety in that he knows what to expect day in and day out. I think he has an understanding of how gameday goes as the starter, and that feeling of taking the field. Some of those things that may cloud your focus of day to day. I think he understands what that is and it allows him to live in the moment.”

With Murphy’s increased comfort comes additional knowledge for his teammates and coaches of how the Longhorns’ current quarterback preps and plays on gameday, something that should help Texas heading into this week’s top 25 matchup.

“There’s a level of comfort for us and for the players around him of ‘okay, this is Maalik on gameday. This is his personality. This is Maalik in game prep when he’s running a play for the first time and his understanding of it all,'” Sarkisian said. “I think all the way around, it feels a little bit more comfortable for me and for the people all around.”

K-State

Here’s how Sarkisian spoke about the Kansas State offense. Sarkisian’s comments revealed a focus on tackling and proper alignment.

“They tax you in a lot of ways: their ability to deploy people on the field, utilize some of the RPO game, their very tactical in their approach to run the football, yet they’ve got the physicality to run the football and they’ve got a veteran offensive line, they’ve got two very good runners, and they’ve got two very good quarterbacks running the ball,” Sarkisian said. “We’re not naive to think they’re (not) going to scheme us up on some things and they’re going to have some runs that are available to hem. We have to make sure those runs are limited to what they’re blocked for.”

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Jalen Catalon, safety play

Sarkisian said Jalen Catalon, who left the Oklahoma game due to injury and missed the win at Houston, was unlikely to play this weekend. However, he said Catalon practiced on Thursday and is making progress.

“We’re going to need him down this stretch run,” Sarkisian said. “To get him back will be big for us.”

Texas used a safety rotation that featured Michael Taaffe and Kitan Crawford in the starting lineup versus BYU with Catalon unavailable. That position has received contributions from Derek Williams and Jerrin Thompson in recent weeks as well.

“I think one thing that has helped that group has been rotating,” Sarkisian said. “Because of the rotation, you haven’t seen many guys have to go out and play 65-70 snaps in a game. If we can keep them around 30-45, they’re fresh. Because we rely on those guys on special teams as well.”

Versus Houston, Williams saw the most snaps among safeties with 36. He led the team again last week versus BYU with 46 snaps. The rotation has allowed a number of defensive backs to make plays and remain fresh.

“It’s been Kitan Crawford, Michael Taaffe, or Jerrin Thompson, who made some really big plays for us early in the year,” Sarkisian said. “I think Derek Williams continues to grow as a player for us. Naturally, there’s been some growing pains, but he’s a special talent as well.”

All four will be needed versus the potent and efficient K-State offense this weekend.