— I’ve been a part of post-scrimmage media sessions in which Sarkisian’s thoughts on the running game didn’t give off positive vibes.
The opposite was true on Saturday. Sarkisian was encouraged by what he described as a “pretty good” day running the football.
Specifically, the tone set by the first-team offensive line (left tackle Trevor Goosby, left guard Laurence Seymore, center Connor Robertson, right guard Brandon Baker and right tackle Melvin Siani) is the most positive offensive note from the scrimmage.
“We've been harping on physicality and we've been harping on running the ball all offseason and I thought they did that today,” Sarkisian said. “I thought they played a physical brand of football.”
It can be argued that the offense should’ve succeeded moving the football on a day when Raheem Biles, Brad Spence and Justus Terry were out and Colin Simmons was held out for large portions of the scrimmage. Nevertheless, with Kyle Flood’s top group still learning how to play together (keep in mind that Goosby missed most of the spring recovering from shoulder surgery, Baker was making the transition to guard, Siani was a spring newcomer and Seymore didn’t get to campus until June), coming out of the first scrimmage with confidence after winning its share of battles against Will Muschamp’s defense is a far cry from where the offensive line’s collective confidence stood through the first half of last season.
With Derrek Cooper, who Sarkisian described as “a hard-charging guy” who’s been pushing the veteran running backs and “going for it and trying to earn his opportunities,” helping reestablish a physical edge in the backfield (something Jabbar Juluke deserves his share of credit for cultivating), the offensive line doesn’t need to be perfect for the offense to succeed. From that standpoint, the unit is a microcosm of the offense as a whole: the multitude of playmakers in the fold should make the Texas offense one of the most potent attacks in the country if every player focuses on doing their job with some level of consistency.
— Arch Manning’s legs and his feel for when to bail out of the pocket and pick up whatever yardage he can also take pressure off the offensive line.
It was Manning’s arm, however, that was under the microscope on Saturday.
Two interceptions (one by Jonah Williams near the goal line and a pick-six by Graceson Littleton) seemed to overshadow the big plays on which he connected with Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo.
Sarkisian described Manning’s scrimmage as “a little up and down,” although he took the blame for the uneven collective showing when Manning, Coleman, Wingo and Emmett Mosley V were on the field together.
“Blame Coach Sark for not being quite as fair to him,” said Sarkisian, who wanted Saturday to feel more like an NFL preseason opener for Manning and the proven commodities in the passing game. “(It was) one series and then sit for, you know, 30 minutes and then one series and then sit again.”
The team’s second scrimmage next Saturday will be a different format, Sarkisian said. To use the comparison between college scrimmages and NFL preseason games, the second scrimmage is typically what NFL teams would do in their dress rehearsal (the third preseason game), with the starters seeing more action and the coaches structuring it more like a regular-season game.
That should lead to a more even performance by Manning, who “had a great first week and a half of training camp,” Sarkisian said.
Ahead of the scrimmage, I said there was nothing Manning could do short of putting up a complete clunker that I’d consider a red flag. To that end, I’m not concerned about Manning and neither is Sarkisian, who said Manning “can play cleaner than he played today and a little bit more efficient, a little bit more accurate."
While the interceptions on their own shouldn’t be discarded or completely written off, Manning’s play in the second half of last season was impressive enough to make me believe that the early-season struggles he went through are behind him for good and won’t rear their ugly head in his second season leading the Longhorn offense.
— Maraad Watson was the member of a deep Texas interior defensive line rotation I was most intrigued by before playing like one of the Longhorns’ top run-stoppers in the scrimmage. If the 333-pound Watson can truly play multiple shades as a reliable early-down defender, he could become the biggest asset in Kenny Baker’s room.
Watson’s ability to play closer to the ball would allow him to spell Ian Geffrard and maintain the kind of presence Muschamp wants in the middle of his defense. A tandem of Geffrard and Watson would also let the development of Zion Williams and Josiah Sharma continue, rather than forcing them into high-leverage snaps if they're not ready for such roles.
Watson can also play next to Geffrard if the Longhorns want more beef on the interior, forming an impenetrable wall in front of Biles, Justin Cryer and the playmaking potential Texas has at the second level.
Geffrard, Alex January and Hero Kanu in the fold set a high floor for the kind of presence and production Muschamp and Baker can count on from the guys who serve as the tip of the spear defensively. Watson and Justus Terry, however, will determine where the ceiling is for a group that looks deeper and more versatile than it did last season.
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