“Auburn has an awesome team,” Schlossnagle said on Thursday before departing UFCU-Disch Falk Field for the airport. “They actually remind me a lot of our team and some of the best teams we've had — that I've coached.”

It starts on the mound, where Texas (18-2, 2-1 SEC) and Auburn (18-2, 3-0) rank among the nation’s leaders in team ERA (the Tigers are second with a 2.26 while the Longhorns are fourth with a 2.67) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (Auburn’s 5.34 leads Division I while Texas is currently ninth with a 3.63). Ruger Riojas (4-0, 2.05 ERA) and Jake Marciano (3-0, 0.93) square off in Friday’s series opener, pitting two of the nation’s top starting pitchers against each other.

“He throws a boatload of strikes with multiple pitches,” Schlossnagle said of Marciano, who has only walked two batters in 29 innings while firing 42 strikeouts, 13 of which have been looking (the third-most in the SEC). “He's got a really, kind of loose body, loose arm. The fastball — it's not like some super high-velocity fastball — it gets on you. It's relentless strikes.”

Schlossnagle said Marciano, a sophomore lefty who went 4-2 with a 6.08 ERA in 15 appearances as a freshman at Virginia Tech last season, controls the running game so well that it’s tough to envision the Longhorns doing a lot of damage with men on base. Even though Texas enters the series boasting one of the most productive offenses in the country (12th with a .560 team slugging percentage, 15th with an average of 1.8 home runs per game, 17th with a .324 team batting average, 18th with a .442 team on-base percentage and 19th with an average of 9.5 runs scored per game), Schlossnagle wants to see how the bats bounce back against the Tiger arms after a forgettable performance in Tuesday’s 6-1 loss at to Tarleton State, one Schlossnagle described as “beyond brutal.”

A first-inning solo home run by Carson Tinney and a two-out single to right field by Josh Livingston in the bottom of the ninth were the only hits Texas scratched out. The Longhorns struck out 12 times, left nine runners on base and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

“The at-bats were horrific,” Schlossnagle said. “They pitched well. Ethan Mendoza, yesterday, said the one right-hander for them — I think the third pitcher — that's the best pitcher we've seen all season. At least he felt. When a guy in the box is saying that. The guy was going 95, 96 (mph) with two breaking balls. I think he had walked like nine guys in 11 innings. Our plan was to make him throw strikes and he threw nothing but strikes.

“We didn't do a really good job with the right-handers they threw out there,” he added. “We kept chasing balls on the first-base side of home plate, pulling off the breaking balls. It's more about, as a team, sticking with our approach that we've had all year of using the whole field to hit.”

After taking Wednesday to reflect on what happened Tuesday, and making a trip to Round Rock to get some infield work on the dirt and grass at Dell Diamond, Schlossnagle would like to think the loss to Tarleton State will ensure Texas is locked in when facing an Auburn club that’s a “national championship-caliber team that's playing well and playing with a lot of confidence" after opening SEC play with a road sweep of Missouri and recording a 9-2 rout of No. 3 Georgia Tech at home on Tuesday.

“Everything in life happens for you, not to you,” Schlossnagle said. “Maybe we'll look back on that and say, 'Wow, what an experience that was,' and we learned from it and got better. Or the opposite.

“Hopefully, it's not the opposite.”

The 6-foot-5-inch Arkansas transfer is listed on the spring roster at 378 pounds, making him the heaviest Longhorn in Sarkisian’s six seasons as head coach. Targeted out of the transfer portal to give Will Muschamp an imposing over-the-ball presence whenever the Longhorns decide to utilize an odd front on defense, Geffrard isn’t just a big body who can occupy blockers.

“You don't see a lot of guys at that weight moving this well,” Hero Kanu said after the team’s first spring practice on March 9. “We played against Ian last year and we saw him on tape. We were like, 'Dang! That's a big man right there!’

"He's doing a heck of a job.”

Geffrard wouldn’t be the first physically imposing Longhorn to make his presence felt in a big way. Still, if he gets anywhere close to giving what five other historic Texas-sized linemen contributed during their respective careers, Geffrard would leave an indelible impression at the end of his lone season as a Longhorn.

— Stonie Clark, DL, 1992-95

The 6-foot-1-inch Clark was listed on the 1994 roster at 343 pounds. That weight might’ve raised a few eyebrows in 2026, but Clark’s listed weight put him in rarified air more than 30 years ago.

Clark’s listed weight was down significantly (to 320 pounds) as a senior in 1995, when he served as a captain for a Texas squad that captured the final Southwest Conference championship. Still, Clark became a Longhorn legend as a junior. In the Red River Shootout, Clark smacked Oklahoma’s James Allen just shy of the goal line on fourth-and-goal late in the game, finishing a play that linebacker Robert Reed started by forcing Allen to cut back toward the pursuing Texas defense to clinch a thrilling 17-10 victory at the Cotton Bowl.

— Leonard Davis, OL, 1997-2000

Originally a defensive lineman for the Longhorns, Davis switched to the other side of the ball when Mack Brown came to town. Davis’ career took off from there, culminating with consensus All-America honors in 2000, the same season in which he was a finalist for the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy.

The 6-foot-6-inch Davis, who was listed at 365 pounds on the 2000 roster, tipped the scales at 370 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2001. A Longhorn Hall of Honor inductee in 2016, Davis went on to become a three-time Pro Bowl selection and an All-Pro offensive lineman during his 12-year NFL career after the Arizona Cardinals made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2001 draft.

— Mike Williams, OL, 1998-2001

A consensus All-American in 2001, the 6-foot-6-inch Williams was listed at 345 pounds as a senior. Williams weighed in at 375 pounds at the combine in 2002, a few months before the Buffalo Bills selected him with the fourth overall pick in the draft.

Unlike most elite NFL offensive line prospects who come into the league after playing left tackle in college, Williams played right tackle for the Longhorns, where he protected the blind side of left-handed quarterback Chris Simms. After a failed position conversion to left tackle for the Bills, Williams was cut in 2006.

After spending the 2007 and 2008 seasons out of football, Williams, who weighed over 400 pounds at one point, made a successful comeback in 2009. Williams signed with Washington, got his weight down to under 340 pounds, made the team and started eight games before an issue with blood clots ended his career ahead of the 2010 season.

— T’Vondre Sweat, DL, 2019-23

There were rumblings that Sweat’s weight was closing in on 400 pounds at one point in his Texas career. Regardless, the 6-foot-4-inch, 362-pounder had a tremendous senior season for the Longhorns, winning the Outland Trophy and being named a unanimous All-American while helping Texas win the Big 12 and reach the College Football Playoff in 2023.

Sweat, who was 366 pounds at the combine, maintained the foot quickness and athleticism he displayed on the basketball court in high school as he added weight to his frame.

No player Sarkisian inherited from the previous regime benefited more from the coaching change than Sweat. Forced to mature while playing for Bo Davis, Sweat realized his potential with the Longhorns before the Tennessee Titans took him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

— Cameron Williams, OL, 2022-24

Before Geffrard’s arrival, Williams was the heaviest player by listed weight in the Sarkisian era. The 2023 roster listed the 6-foot-5-inch Williams at 369 pounds, making him the biggest of the big humans Texas landed in the historic 2022 high school offensive line haul.

Williams started one game in 2023 before he took over for Christian Jones at right tackle in 2024. Williams shed weight after a late-season knee injury, dropping down to 317 pounds by the time he showed up at the combine ahead of the 2025 draft.

A shoulder injury delayed Williams’ NFL debut with the Philadelphia Eagles, who picked him in the sixth round of the draft (No. 207 overall). Nevertheless, Williams eventually suited up and logged his first snaps as a pro in Week 18 of the 2025 season.

Williams, who was injured during the 2025 football season while playing safety for the Longhorns, has been absent from Schlossnagle’s lineup since exiting a 14-2, run-rule victory over USC Upstate on 6. A late-inning dive for a ball in the outfield led to Williams going under the knife, ending his sophomore season after appearing in eight games.

“He definitely needed it,” Schlossnagle said. “We did get a chance to talk to him and his parents and the doctor. There's no question, once they got in there, there's no chance that he was able to survive through a season and be ready for football, much less play baseball.

"I’m glad Jonah is getting some clarity.”

While on the mend, Schlossnagle has encouraged Williams to go “all in” on football. Schlossnagle, who’s been in contact with Steve Sarkisian and regarding Williams’ spring plans, wants Williams to focus on learning Will Muschamp’s defense and getting reacquainted with coach Blake Gideon, who spearheaded the football program’s recruitment of Williams before leaving the Forty Acres to accept a position as Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator for the 2025 season.

“Sark and I have spoken and he can now go, really, all in,” Schlossnagle said. “I encouraged him to go all in on being a great teammate in football, learning the defense, just being over there all the time. He's more than welcome, obviously, and I want him in our dugout during the games, but he doesn't need to be at our practices or do anything like that.”

Schlossnagle made it clear that Williams is “still a two-sport athlete.” There have been discussions between Schlossnagle, Sarkisian and football general manager Brandon Harris about Williams continuing to pursue both sports at Texas, with Schlossnagle saying that Sarkisian and the football program are “100% supportive of him being a baseball player next January.”

Schlossnagle remains “super supportive of him being a football player." Although the Texas faithful will continue debating whether Williams would be better off picking one sport over the other, Schlossnagle said he and Sarkisian are staying true to their word, having told Williams during the recruiting process that he could play both sports for the Longhorns.

“The reason he's at Texas is because we told him he could be a two-sport athlete,” Schlossnagle said. “When I was at (Texas) A&M, we told him the same thing. So did LSU. So did Ohio State. I probably shouldn't say this, but sometimes people are like, 'Yeah, we want him at Texas! We want him to be a two-sport guy!' And then, when he gets here, 'go pick.' Well, that's not the deal. You don't get to pick. He gets to pick. Usually, in my experience — I've coached a lot of them — they eventually pick. But this is a unique one. This guy is really good. I don't know what kind of football player he is; I know what kind of baseball player he can be. Everybody needs to get off his back. This guy loves Texas. He loves football and he loves baseball. He's all in on his teammates. He needs to do a better job himself of getting prepared for each sport, and he's learning that as a young, amateur player, but we need to be more supportive of him and less critical."

Coach Sean Miller and three of the Longhorns’ top players — Dailyn Swain, Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope — will be a part of the pregame press conference before tangling with the Cougars. Miller, who has guided Texas (19-14) further than last year’s squad by advancing out of Dayton in his first NCAA Tournament game with the Longhorns, said after the win over the Wolfpack that, with the First Four behind them, “there's power in playing a game in this tournament.”

“I've referenced it three or four times, where sometimes a player or a team is not themselves,” Miller said. “I don't want to say jitters, but March Madness looms big. We fought literally from game one when we played Duke in Charlotte to make this tournament, and finally, you're here and now you're close to advancing.

"I think our nerves sometimes can settle through Game 1," he added. "You can gain confidence. You already have one game to your advantage, but we're going to have to play a really good team and we're definitely going to have to play better than we played tonight. We know that. But we get that opportunity. That's the thrill of it."

OTF will have updates from the press conference as the Longhorns make their way to the podium in Portland.

Williams, who hit .304 in an eight-game, truncated sophomore season, was expected to be a big piece of the puzzle in 2026. After Texas (18-1, 2-1 SEC) routed Ole Miss on Sunday, 8-2, to win the team’s first SEC series of the season, Jim Schlossnagle brought up how Williams’ health created a question mark for the Longhorns at the plate.

“His legs are fine,” Schlossnagle said, referring to Williams’ previous hamstring troubles, on top of the shoulder issue that carried over from football season. “He's just trying to figure out what we're going to do moving forward with his shoulder and if that's going to allow him to play.”

Williams won’t play again for Texas until 2027 while rehabbing what sources told OTF on Monday is a rotator cuff injury. Nevertheless, Schlossnagle and the Longhorns have had several players step up to take advantage of the opportunity Williams’ misfortune created, which needs to remain the trend as SEC play continues.

1. ANTHONY PACK JR.

Williams’ injury recovery in January opened the door for Pack to win the starting job in right field on opening day. The 5-foot-10-inch, 190-pound freshman, whose high school home baseball field lacked an outfield, which has added a different dimension to learning how to properly patrol the outfield at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, has manned both corner outfield spots.

Where Pack has most cushioned the blow of Texas losing Williams is at the plate. Pack ranks among the team’s offensive leaders through 19 games with a .354 batting average (second), a 1.096 OPS (fourth), 22 runs scored (third), 23 hits (fifth), five doubles (second), 23 RBI (second), 40 total bases (fifth), four home runs (sixth) and seven stolen bases (first).

“Pack is one of those special freshmen. There aren't many of them,” Schlossnagle said. “There's usually about 15 to 20 in the SEC every year that get 50 at-bats or more and have an impact when they do that. We had Adrian (Rodriguez) last year. When I was at (Texas) A&M, (Gavin) Grahovac and (Caden) Sorrell, those guys were superstar freshmen. Now, Pack is on that list.”

2. JAYDEN DUPLANTIER

Hitting .333 in 18 games (27 at-bats), Duplantier’s nine hits are two shy of tying his single-season career-high of 11, which he set while playing 34 games (43 at-bats) as a freshman in 2023. A reliable option as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive substitution, Duplantier’s role should continue to grow with Williams on the shelf.

3. ASHTON LARSON

The LSU transfer drew the early-season starting assignments in left field while Williams was working his way back into the lineup.

Larson has skins on the wall in SEC play; he led the Tigers in batting average (.337) during conference play in 2024. Injury issues limited him to 34 games (five starts) during LSU’s national championship-winning season in 2025, but Larson has a role for the Longhorns in an outfield platoon with Duplantier, unless one of them separates and earns more playing time or someone else steps up and joins the mix.

4. MADDOX MONSOUR

The freshman from Carrollton, Ga., is hitting .429 with two home runs and three stolen bases in limited action. Monsour entered Sunday’s win over the Rebels after two base-running mistakes led Schlossnagle to remove Larson from the designated hitter spot, going 1-for-1, stealing a base and scoring a run to help the Longhorns secure the win and the series victory.

There’s no guarantee that Monsour’s positive performance will lead to more opportunities. Still, Schlossnagle is excited about Monsour's potential, which seems high enough to get him into the battle with Duplantier and Larson for playing time.

“I love Maddox,” Schlossnagle said. “Maddox is awesome on the bases. His aggression on the bases and how he runs the bases is incredible. I just want to see the same aggression at the plate. We had a conversation about that last (Saturday) night after his at-bat... You don't have to swing at the first pitch; you just have to be ready to hit. I felt like he was super passive. He's been pretty passive in his at-bats. He has a lot of value: he can play shortstop, he can play all three spots in the outfield, he can really run, but to be a more effective college player, you've got to give us something at the plate.”

That’s what Swain said during a press conference at Dayton’s UD Arena on Monday, one day before the Longhorns and Wolfpack meet for the second time this season. The SEC Newcomer of the Year and a second-team All-SEC selection, Swain’s stock as a potential first-round pick has risen throughout a season in which he currently leads Texas (18-14) in points per game (17.7), rebounds per game (7.5), assists (104), steals (55) and minutes per game (32).

“I'm just focused on finishing the season as good as we can as a team, playing as hard as I can for my seniors and all the guys who won't be able to play anymore and trying to make a deep run for Coach (Sean) Miller in his first year here at Texas and letting the country know how good a coach he is,” Swain said. “That's the main thing, really.”

According to ESPN Research, the 6-foot-8-inch, 225-pound Swain is the only player from a major conference program (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) who currently leads their team in five major statistical categories.

A finalist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Swain is currently projected to go in the first round of the draft in Jeremy Woo’s pre-March Madness mock draft for ESPN.com. While writing that “evaluators are mixed on his upside, but it's the type of chance a team might take in this range,” Woo has the Minnesota Timberwolves selecting Swain with the No. 29 overall pick.

Sources have indicated to OTF that if Swain gets assurances from a team that he’ll be selected in the first round, he’s expected to forgo his final season of eligibility and declare for the draft.

With that said, it's not a forgone conclusion that Swain is gone.

Along with a likely significant NIL deal headed his way if he returns to the Forty Acres for his senior season, Swain, who doesn’t turn 21 until July 15, could significantly improve his draft position by waiting until 2027 to enter a draft that’s currently expected to be less top-heavy while lacking the depth of the 2026 class.

Whether Swain is at Texas or is on an NBA roster for the 2026-27 season, Sean Miller is proud of the growth he’s seen from Swain, who has evolved from a wiry 6-foot-7-inch, 176-pound, 18-year-old freshman at Xavier into a well-rounded forward with a legitimate future in the NBA.

“He's just gotten better. Same coach, same strength coach, structure — I think he's really bought in,” Miller said on Monday. “He listens, he learns. We've had amazing support from his mom and family. They allow us to coach Dailyn, hold him accountable and Dailyn has worked hard to develop his shot, develop his body. I think his ability to pass and handle the ball,  something that he had a good starting point on, he's really taken that to a very high level.

“There aren't too many players that play college basketball that had a better overall season than Dailyn did.”

Nevertheless, the time afforded to the media to take stock of the Texas position groups provides a good snapshot of positional depth across the roster.

One thing I’ve always tried to identify is which position groups have talented depth. Those are position groups that can bring In reserves for starters with minimal decline in ability, potential, or production.

The best recent example is the 2022 running back room on the Forty Acres.

With the Doak Walker Award winner (Bijan Robinson) leading the way, Tashard Choice’s room in his first season coaching the Longhorn running backs included Robinson, Roschon Johnson, Keilan Robinson, Jonathan Brooks and Jaydon Blue. Those players who shared a backfield for one season at Texas were selected in the first, fourth, fifth, second and fifth rounds over three NFL drafts, respectively.

That’s the best-case scenario for a position group aiming to boast talented depth. Right now, I think four position coaches can rightfully claim they’ve got talented depth in their room.

1. DEFENSIVE LINE

Even if Justus Terry doesn’t exclusively fit in with Kenny Baker’s group, the fact that the defensive line can go through drills unaffected by the absences of Terry or James Johnson (both of whom are on the mend) says a lot about the unit’s depth.

It would be hard to find a better four-man group in the country than Ian Geffrard, Alex January, Hero Kanu and Maraad Watson. There’s a chance all four of them could be drafted in 2027, or January and Watson could return for the 2027 season as potential early-round picks in 2028. Regardless, Watson spending time practicing playing closer to the ball is the kind of move that could allow Baker and Will Muschamp to mix and match combinations based on certain situations to ensure the four lead dogs in the pack have enough gas in the tank for the fourth quarter of games and, hopefully, a deep run in the College Football Playoff.

Considering there are four players with realistic NFL futures headlining the group, Baker and the Longhorns can continue to let Myron Charles, Josiah Sharma and Zion Williams develop behind them. Texas also doesn’t need Johnson or Terry to rush back from injury because of the quality and quantity at the point of attack.

This group might not have the ceiling of the 2023 group, which featured four linemen who went in the first three rounds of the 2024 (Byron Murphy went 16th overall and T’Vondre Sweat was the 38th pick) and 2025 (Alfred Collins was picked 43rd overall and Vernon Broughton was selected with the 71st pick) drafts. Thankfully, it doesn’t need to repeat that level of draft success to play a pivotal role in the Longhorns' competing for a national championship.

2. WIDE RECEIVER

Emmett Mosley V and Ryan Wingo weren’t on the field for either media window during the first week of spring practice. Still, they’ve got spots secured within Steve Sarkisian’s circle of trust as two of the four wideouts on the 2025 squad who were targeted more than 40 times (94 targets for Wingo, 49 for DeAndre Moore Jr., 48 for Mosley and 44 for Parker Livingstone, according to Pro Football Focus).

Considering the 31-target difference between Livingstone and the wide receiver with the fifth-most targets last season (Daylan McCutcheon with 13), there are six scholarship wideouts (McCutcheon, Sterling Berkhalter, Jermaine Bishop Jr., Kohen Brown, Kaliq Lockett and Chris Stewart) competing for the last spot in the rotation. And if the buzz Bishop generated last week carries over to padded practices after spring break, that could leave five of Chris Jackson’s scholarship players to duke it out for whatever targets are left over after the top four wide receivers get fed.

The sense of urgency among Jackson’s charges should be sky high. Anything less won’t cut during what must be an insanely competitive spring, with Sarkisian, Jackson and the other offensive coaches doing whatever it takes to maximize what’s expected to be Arch Manning’s final campaign as a Longhorn.

3. EDGE

Brad Spence spending time with the EDGE group and the linebackers in spring practice is a sign that Muschamp wants to put Spence’s natural pass-rushing ability to good use.

Colin Simmons is going to draw enough attention to get pass rushers playing alongside him in favorable matchups and cleaner paths to the quarterback. Spence is one of the players who can take advantage of those situations, but he’s not the only one.

Lance Jackson, Smith Orogbo, Zina Umeozulu and Colton Vasek have flashed playmaking ability throughout their Texas careers. Keep in mind that after Muschamp was hired, the staff avoided losing Umeozulu and Vasek to the transfer portal, showing their value to the program.

Even though six defenders are competing for opportunities to get after the quarterback, Jamarion Carlton and Richard Wesley look the part physically. It isn’t a hot take to think one or both of the true freshmen could log high-leverage snaps by the time the 2026 season is in the books.

4. RUNNING BACK

There was a time last season when Quintrevion Wisner, C.J. Baxter and Christian Clark were dealing with or recovering from injuries. That left Jerrick Gibson and James Simon to pick up the slack.

By the time the Longhorns were preparing to face Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, three of those five runners had entered the transfer portal. Michael Terry III had already moved over from wide receiver for depth purposes by that point.

Wanting to avoid similar pitfalls in 2026, Sarkisian and Jabbar Juluke left nothing to chance in the offseason when rebuilding the running back room.

Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers were two of the best available running backs in the transfer portal. Derrek Cooper was one of the top high school running backs in the 2026 recruiting cycle.

Those three, along with the returns of Simon and Terry, the late-cycle addition of Jett Walker and whatever becomes of Ryan Niblett's role, give the Longhorns seven scholarship backs, a group with a good mix of experience, youth, proven production and high upside. Considering Baxter and Clark were coming off major injuries at this time last year, it’s remarkable how the position has been almost entirely turned over and is better positioned for success, with more margin for error based on the early returns from spring practice.

Regarding the start of spring practice, Sarkisian's role goes beyond that of a coach. Sarkisian is approaching practice periods like a teacher when class is in session, demanding attention to detail, information retention and maximum effort reps from his students.

There’s always been a level of intensity that Sarkisian roams the practice field with that doesn’t always show on game day, when he’s locked in on his call sheet for four quarters. What’s different about Sarkisian from the glimpses we got during the first week of spring practice is a renewed sense of urgency.

Especially when the offense is going through drills without a handful of veteran leaders (during routes on air, for example, Arch Manning, Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley didn’t participate in either open media window this week), Sarkisian directs his troops like a coach who understands the young, inexperienced Longhorns don’t have a ton of examples they can study to see how practice is supposed to run. After leaving more things to chance than he should have coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2024 while preparing for the 2025 season, Sarkisian is leading by example and setting the proper tone for a program that must be more buttoned up in several areas to get back to the CFP.

As he was giving the media his thoughts on Monday’s practice, Sarkisian could’ve been talking about himself when describing what the players did well.

“You could feel the competitive spirit, and not necessarily always across the ball with each other,” Sarkisian said. "I think competitively internally, that's what great competitors have — that internal fire to want to do it the right way.”

Whether he’s rewriting the wrongs from last season, trying to match the energy Will Muschamp is infusing into the defense or trying to maximize his on-field time with several new faces on the field, Sarkisian looks like he’s motivated to do things in a way that positions Texas to win championships in his sixth season on the Forty Acres.

— One of the top storylines to follow when Texas returns from spring break is seeing if Jermaine Bishop’s impact translates to contact practices.

The true freshman has been the talk of spring practice through the first week and rightfully so.

Bishop has a unique ability to hit another gear when tracking the football and then attack it in the air that words can't accurately describe. He's one of several Longhorns who profile as a potential football unicorn, with his combination of physical traits, body type and playmaking ability that’s hard to compare to other Texas players.

Rasheem Biles, Cam Coleman and Colin Simmons are individually unique. Those three Longhorns have skins on the wall as college football players. It’s up to Sarkisian to come up with ways to get the most out of Bishop.

Thankfully, that’s a big reason why Bishop chose Texas.

A two-way prospect who “has the ability to do either,” Sarkisian said when Bishop signed with the Longhorns in December, the Willis product selected by Dave Campbell's Texas Football as Mr. Texas Football was expected to begin his collegiate career on defense when he committed to Texas. Sarkisian had experience coaching high-level two-way prospects at Washington (John Ross) and USC (Adoree’ Jackson), both of whom went on to become first-round NFL draft picks at wide receiver and cornerback, respectively.

Sarkisian's efforts to weaponize Ross and Jackson gave him a road map he could present to Bishop and his family as to why the Longhorns would be the best fit for his football future. The early returns from spring practice suggest Sarkisian will have to unveil his plan for maximizing Bishop sooner rather than later, if he continues to light it up at practice.

— If there’s one thing we’re not talking about enough through two practices, it’s the quality snaps KJ Lacey is getting with the first-team offense.

Manning should regain the keys to the offense at some point before the spring game on April 18. Until then, Sarkisian, AJ Milwee and Mike Bimonte get to see how Lacey operates with the first unit, which should pay off if he’s called pressed into duty (keep in mind that Texas needed Matthew Caldwell to play critical snaps in two SEC road games, including overtime of the comeback win over Mississippi State).

The most poignant comment Sarkisian made this week might’ve been how one of the unintended consequences to come from Manning’s foot surgery was Lacey getting an opportunity rarely afforded to quarterbacks further down the depth chart than an elite signal-caller like Manning.

“A lot of times, we have to manufacture that throughout spring — put him with the ones, pull Arch out. Now, he's just getting all of this,” Sarkisian said. “I don't know when, how much his number might get called this fall, so there's a lot of banked reps that he's getting right now that I think are invaluable for him.”

“We've got a really talented group of people individually,” Sarkisian said Monday, recalling his message to the Longhorns last Friday. “Now, we need to become a really talented team.”

Texas was talented enough to win 10 games in 2025. Its blemishes, however, led to three losses, which prevented the Longhorns from making a third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff.

Whether it was parting ways with four position coaches (including hiring Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator), turning over the roster by attacking the transfer portal more than any time throughout his coaching tenure on the Forty Acres (almost 40 new faces on campus for spring practice between transfers and freshmen who enrolled for the spring semester), or restructuring the offseason schedule (the return of the spring game and the implementation of the program's “Culture Wednesday” team bonding sessions during the spring), Sarkisian tweaked the process Texas will go through ahead of the 2026 season.

It’s a process the Longhorns trust, defensive lineman Hero Kanu said after Wednesday’s practice. Kanu, who has the phrase “Trust The Process” tattooed across his chest, said the mantra must become the team’s identity to maximize its full potential.

“You can have all the talent in the world. If you can't do the little things right, it doesn't matter,” Kanu said. “So, obviously, you've got to trust the process and go in the right direction every day, going up the hill.”

— There are three big changes on defense Kanu has noticed as Muschamp goes about installing his scheme.

Texas will be a more aggressive down-to-down defense. Kanu specifically mentioned the interior defensive line causing more disruption to help the EDGE group get loose more often.

Muschamp’s energy and knowledge of the game, Kanu said, are second to none.

Kanu also mentioned Muschamp’s plans to mix up how often the Longhorns operate out of a three, four or five-man front.

In that regard, the over-the-ball tackles will have a big say in how versatile Muschamp can be. Thankfully, Kanu has been impressed with the strides made by 378-pound Ian Geffrard and 364-pound Zion Williams since arriving from Arkansas and LSU, respectively.

“You don't see a lot of guys at that weight moving this well,” Kanu said. “I'm really proud of them, how far they’ve come.”

— Colin Simmons can’t hunt opposing quarterbacks until the fall. In the meantime, he’s searching for the next source of fuel to keep his fire burning.

Before playing a snap at Texas, Simmons was determined to move his family out of where they previously lived. His mother, Monica McCarley, and his 11-year-old brother, Clayton Roberts, relocated to the Austin area last year.

Simmons, who, along with his mother, founded “Clay’s Color Crew” in 2024 “to support the entire Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) community,” said the move has allowed Clayton, who was diagnosed with autism in 2020, to enroll in “a school that's good for him, that he's getting the right attention and the right treatment."

“With me doing that, it was like, 'OK, what's next?’ Simmons said. “I'm looking for what's next. But while I look for what's next, I'm just going out here and having fun.”

Fun is the key to Simmons' success, as far as he's concerned.

After publicly stating his desire to break Kiki DeAyala’s single-season school sack record (22.5 in 1982) last spring, Simmons started pressing. The weight of self-imposed expectations played a big role in Simmons’ slow start (1.5 sacks through the first five games of the season and 10.5 over the team's last eight games), making him determined not to let the pursuit of individual accolades negatively impact his play.

“Knowing myself, I like to have fun. I like to have a smile on my face,” Simmons said. “The best Colin Simmons is when he has a smile on his face.”

— Even in a deep EDGE room, Lance Jackson was too good to keep off the field as a true freshman.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson played 261 snaps in 2025. That was the fourth-highest total among the EDGE group, behind Simmons (615), Ethan Burke (378) and Brad Spence (264).

Jackson, who is up to 272 pounds after Muschamp told him in December that he wanted the Texarkana Pleasant Grove product to bulk up, knew what he needed to do to get ready for college football by following the lead of his brother, former Arkansas defensive lineman Landon Jackson. Landon put in a lot of hard work to become a two-time All-SEC defender and a third-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 2025.

That's the same mindset Lance brought with him to the Forty Acres.

“Ever since I got here in December (2024), he told me what I needed to do to be able to play,” Lance Jackson said. “I learned the playbook fairly fast and then was able to get on the field.”

Even in a rivalry with the history and renewed vitriol that exists between the Razorbacks, blood is thicker than water when it comes to Landon’s continued influence on Lance.

“I feel like now, he doesn't really look at it as much as a rivalry because he just wants what's best for me,” Lance Jackson said. “He wants me to win every game.

"He just wants me to shine.”

— Whether he’s playing cornerback, filling the nickel role in Muschamp’s defense or lining up anywhere else on the field, Graceson Littleton’s expectations for himself when he steps on the field won’t change.

“Dominate in everything I do,” Littleton said. “I want to be the best. I want to excel in everything I do.”

Two of the three secondary coaches from last season’s staff are gone. The one who was retained, Mark Orphey, is someone Littleton trusts to help him reach his ceiling as he begins the process of cross-training at cornerback and nickelback.

“He recruited me out of high school. I loved him,” Littleton said. “He happened to come to Texas. I'm very excited to be able to play under him and then at Star (nickel) as well.”

One spring practice isn’t enough to render a verdict. And when looking at Flood’s first unit that worked at Denius Fields on Monday, 354-pound Jordan Coleman lining up at left tackle (Trevor Goosby was suited up for the team's first spring practice, but he’ll be limited until further notice while recovering from postseason shoulder surgery) is exactly the kind of large human Sarkisian’s organization has tried to get into the fold since he started remaking the roster upon taking the job in 2021.

Still, with Jaydon Chatman (315 pounds), Connor Robertson (317), Brandon Baker (304) and newcomer Melvin Siani (313) rounding out the starters on Monday, the Longhorns aren’t quite as big up front as they’ve previously been under the current regime.

Goosby is listed at 325 pounds on the spring roster, putting the 2026 projected starting offensive line’s average weight on pace to be 314.8 pounds. That’s slightly up from the 312.2-pound average of the season-ending combination in 2025, but 349-pound Nick Brooks and 341-pound Connor Stroh combined to start seven games at left guard during the regular season.

Regardless, the current starting offensive line and last year’s top group weigh significantly less than the 2024 unit (324 pounds). That number was slightly down from the 2023 group, which averaged 324.6 pounds.

After practice, while discussing Baker’s move from tackle to guard and the possibility of the junior adding more mass, Sarkisian didn’t stick to his typical big people talking points.

“Natural weight is important to me,” he said. “I think, sometimes, just trying to get heavy —one of his strengths is his ability to move and play with great balance and body control. That's something that I think will benefit him.

“Mass is helpful, but we just want to make sure it's the right type of mass as his weight goes up.”

An answer to a press conference question doesn’t confirm that Sarkisian and Flood want a slimmer offensive line with improved movement skills. Nevertheless, the Longhorns coming off of the program’s worst season running the football since 2014 (137.8 yards per game ranked 90th in FBS, while an average of 4.19 yards per attempt ranked 84th nationally) and allowing Arch Manning to be pressured on an SEC-leading 165 dropbacks (according to Pro Football Focus) should require going back to the drawing board.

If the leaks in the dam last season weren’t enough to force Sarkisian and Flood to adjust course, DJ Campbell’s career arc might be the best example that bigger doesn’t always mean better.

Campbell played his best football as a Longhorn in 2025, a season in which he weighed 321 pounds. He was a first-team All-SEC selection by the Associated Press and a third-team pick by the league’s coaches while recording career-high single-season PFF grades with a 70.9 overall and 73.6 as a run blocker, with a pass-blocking grade of 77.6. After getting up to 343 pounds in 2023 and playing the 2024 season at 330 pounds, Campbell trimmed down to 313 pounds for the NFL Scouting Combine, where he ran a 5.01 40-yard dash, potentially improving his draft position.

It wouldn’t do the staff any good to spend time thinking about what a leaner, more agile Campbell would’ve done on the Forty Acres. But with four of the seven offensive linemen who weighed 325-plus pounds last season hitting the transfer portal, and only one such player entering the program (344-pound Dylan Sikorski), a case can be made that the belt is literally tightening in the offensive line room.

And it might not be a bad thing.