Ewers looks comfortable in spring debut
AUSTIN — Texas held its first spring football practice Tuesday, signaling the beginning of its fourth year under Steve Sarkisian.
The Longhorns are coming off of their best season under Sarkisian, which included a College Football Playoff appearance and Big 12 title. Texas is looking to replicate its success in its inaugural year in the Southeastern Conference this fall.
“It was pretty evident that the energy was good out there at practice,” Sarkisian said. “It was pretty evident the amount of depth we have. This is the most numbers we’ve had in a spring practice since we’ve been here.”
Here are five things to know as Texas begins spring practice:
Ewers’ progress
Sarkisian seemed pleased with how starting quarterback Quinn Ewers looked.
“We went from where he was a couple of years ago to slimming himself all the way down to last season.” Sarkisian said. “If you look at him, he looks a little broader this year. I’m hopeful we can maybe get three to five more pounds of just strengthening him up that way.”
He also said that Ewers, entering his third season, played confidently on the first day of spring practice. Arch Manning is the No. 2 quarterback.
Open communication
Texas is experimenting with a new communication system speaking directly to a quarterback through his helmet.
“A little different for us, for Quinn and I, this year is my ability to talk to him through the mic, and we started practicing that today,” Sarkisian said. “I think having two years of experience working together and now having that dialogue through the headset is going to be beneficial for us.”
The NCAA has yet to officially approve the helmet communication, but teams are allowed to use the technology in practice.
While the system could make both Sarkisian’s and Ewers’ lives a bit easier, there might be a bit of a learning curve in finding out what exactly works best.
“I think the challenge for me is how much information is quality, good information and when does it cross the threshold of too much to where it’s a little bit of paralysis by analysis because there’s too much information,” he said. “That’s a fine line of (Ewers) and I working together with some of that stuff; he and I working with the offensive line and getting that communication done.”
Sarkisian also added that he will still be teaching hand signals, in the event that a headset goes out.
Big voids to fill
Texas lost its top two interior defensive linemen, T’vondre Sweat (Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year) and Byron Murphy II (Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year), to the upcoming NFL draft.
Sarkisian is confident that he has players that can step up.
“Alfred (Collins) is a very talented player who has matured from one year to the next, to the next,” Sarkisian said. “If he continues on the progression that he’s on, he’s poised to have a great year. I think Vernon Broughton, again, (is) one of those guys. They gave us a lot of quality reps the last two seasons, and I think now more than ever, they’re poised to step into that role.”
Arizona transfer Tiaoalii Savea is another experienced player who could provide veteran leadership. Savea played one year at UCLA before spending two seasons at Arizona. Sarkisian also tabbed younger linemen like Jaray Bledsoe and Aaron Bryant as guys that could be getting more reps this season.
New receiver group
Texas’ wide receiver corps is only returning eight catches from last season after the departures of Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell and tight end Ja’tavion Sanders.
However, a slew of transfers should bolster that position and two of them are already on campus. Matthew Golden (Houston) and Isaiah Bond (Alabama) were catching passes from Ewers in the portion of practice that was open to the media Tuesday morning. Silas Bolden (Oregon State) will join the Longhorns in the summer as a grad transfer.
Work in progress
Sarkisian emphasized that the Longhorns are still figuring things out and are not the finished product that will take the field on their Aug. 31 season opener.
“There’s a ton of things that we need to get better at and we need to work on,” he said. “But for a first day of spring practice, I was definitely pleased.”
Texas’ Orange-white game is at 1 p.m. on April 20.