OTF Premium Questions answered, unanswered after Texas' last spring practice

[Jeff Howe]

AUSTIN, Texas — As is the case with most spring games, regardless of the format, there wasn’t enough on display in Saturday’s open practice to draw finite conclusions about the Texas Longhorns in 2026.

Still, what could be gleaned from a thud tempo scrimmage on a cold, dreary day at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium answered a few questions on a day when the curtain fell on a productive spring for Steve Sarkisian’s program. And, obviously, there are also things we won’t know about until Texas kicks off its sixth campaign under Sarkisian against Texas State on Sept. 5.

 

Three questions answered at the end of spring practice

 

1. What’s the deepest position on the team?

While the answer is debatable, the wide receivers made a strong case for being the deepest group on the Forty Acres throughout the spring. That continued on Saturday with Sterling Berkhalter, Jermaine Bishop and Daylan McCutcheon flashing, most notably McCutcheon on an outstretched touchdown catch inside the front pylon against Kade Phillips.

With Cam Coleman, Emmett Mosley and Ryan Wingo getting no snaps during the live periods of practice, the second unit made plays for KJ Lacey (when he had time to throw the football) and consistently challenged an aggressive secondary. Even with a defensive line (both on the interior and out on the edge) that’s as deep and talented as any in the country, Sarkisian might be forced to expand his rotation of wideouts, given the number of playmakers in Chris Jackson’s room.

 

2. How different will the defense be under Will Muschamp?

Although the live portion of Saturday’s action was void of exotic pressures and the kind of looks Muschamp will dial up during the regular season, it was clear that the Longhorns are going to be an aggressive, attacking defense under the new regime.

Specifically, Saturday’s practice featured numerous A-gap pressures by the linebackers (Rasheem Biles, Tyler Atkinson and Kosi Okpala destroyed plays with pressure in the quarterback’s face) and tight, man coverage on the back end. With a few exceptions, defenders were on top of intended receivers when balls were caught, either forcing incompletions or eliminating yards after the catch.

 

3. Is the running game going to be better than it was in 2025?

With little seen of Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers, and the offensive line missing Trevor Goosby and Melvin Siani (Brandon Baker, Jaydon Chatman and Connor Robertson saw few snaps), it was hard to get a full picture of the state of the running game. Nevertheless, Derrek Cooper ran with a different level of wiggle and maximized runs better than anyone (other than a healthy Tre Wisner) did last season, including on his short touchdown run and a gain of about eight yards in which he pushed the pile forward for a few yards before going down.

Michael Terry had a good practice to close out spring practice, squirting loose over the left side of the line for a first down on a third-and-short run to highlight his day. James Simon, who Jabbar Juluke says is perhaps the best natural runner in his room, popped the longest gain of the day over the right side of the line late in the scrimmage.

There’s no question that Texas has upgraded at running back. That alone gives the running game a much higher ceiling than it had last season.

 

Three questions that remain unanswered at the end of spring practice

 

1. Will the offensive line be better than it was last season?

Nobody should take what happened on Saturday as a sign of things to come, considering how many key pieces were held out of action or limited. Regardless, it’s hard to assume things will be drastically improved in the trenches without the group passing the eye test in a game.

More than any other position, the offensive line needs a lot of time playing together for things to mesh well when it matters. Until the bullets are live, the jury is out on Kyle Flood’s group turning the page from a 2025 showing that fell short of expectations.

 

2. What will the tight ends’ role be on offense?

Other than a catch-and-run by Michael Masunas late in the scrimmage and Spencer Shannon making a catch over the middle before Phillips took him off his feet, there wasn’t much to write home about regarding the performance of the tight ends on Saturday. Sarkisian’s offense often operates out of two tight ends, but the volume of 12 personnel snaps could decrease given the depth of the running back and wide receiver groups.

It seemed like when Nick Townsend was in a position to catch the ball and do something with it in his hands, pressure forced the ball to come out of the quarterback’s hand too quickly or be thrown behind Townsend. Townsend has the tools to be a tremendous weapon, but the group’s role within the offense seems to be a work in progress.

 

3. What do we know about the kicking game?

Not much after Saturday, which has been the case throughout the spring. Gianni Spetic had at least one missed field goal during the live portion of practice, Mac Chiumento’s punts didn’t move the needle and returns weren’t fully live (even though Raleek Brown looked the part on a kickoff return down the sideline to start the scrimmage).

View full news story

[drag worm]

Feels like a weird spring overall with so many key players out. More like a rookie mini camp. There’s not a whole lot of time to have this team gel into a unit that’s firing on all cylinders by the time Ohio State comes to town but that’s the task at hand. OL chemistry. Arch chemistry with the skill players. And just Arch getting back into a game winning rhythm in general. I was there today and came away feeling like I saw a lot of good parts on the field. Now the clock starts on putting them all together. 

[jhookem91]

Great update.  I have faith that our starting OL will be much improved over our OL for much of last year.  Our OL at the end of last year was pretty solid, so we'll see if there are significant improvements over that group.  It's great to see positive notes on McCutcheon after all of the attention (rightfully so) on C. Coleman and Bishop this spring.  

[Joe Zura]

1. Will the offensive line be better than it was last season?

Nobody should take what happened on Saturday as a sign of things to come, considering how many key pieces were held out of action or limited. Regardless, it’s hard to assume things will be drastically improved in the trenches without the group passing the eye test in a game.

More than any other position, the offensive line needs a lot of time playing together for things to mesh well when it matters. Until the bullets are live, the jury is out on Kyle Flood’s group turning the page from a 2025 showing that fell short of expectations.

NO WE HAVE KYLE FLOOD AS A COACH

[genevalonghorn]

Was there enough simulated punt coverage to tell who the gunner is?  

Seems like Bishop would be a fit.  Nobody has done it like Josh Thompson in the past few seasons.

[hookem1014]

Spetic’s miss worries me a bit. He was 3/6 last year in the 40s and none of the misses were blocked. Wonder why Banks targeted him specifically other than his big leg from 50+. 
 

[Jeff Howe]

12 minutes ago, genevalonghorn said:

Was there enough simulated punt coverage to tell who the gunner is?  

Seems like Bishop would be a fit.  Nobody has done it like Josh Thompson in the past few seasons.

Nope. I think there were only three or four punts.

[thatdude2]

41 minutes ago, Joe Zura said:

1. Will the offensive line be better than it was last season?

Nobody should take what happened on Saturday as a sign of things to come, considering how many key pieces were held out of action or limited. Regardless, it’s hard to assume things will be drastically improved in the trenches without the group passing the eye test in a game.

More than any other position, the offensive line needs a lot of time playing together for things to mesh well when it matters. Until the bullets are live, the jury is out on Kyle Flood’s group turning the page from a 2025 showing that fell short of expectations.

NO WE HAVE KYLE FLOOD AS A COACH

Kyle Flood as a coach, Gerry as an absentee father, CJ with OU/Mateer identity issues, Joe Z as a pet. Yep, everything is fine. Nothing to see here. 🥹 Damn it feels like 5-7 all over again.

[thatdude2]

39 minutes ago, hookem1014 said:

Spetic’s miss worries me a bit. He was 3/6 last year in the 40s and none of the misses were blocked. Wonder why Banks targeted him specifically other than his big leg from 50+. 
 

Biological son from a young scalawag is my guess. I have been wing before,