Texas’ spring practice is officially over with the conclusion of the Orange-White game. Now, Texas fans will have to wait until September for the next action at DKR, but here are some observations from Saturday’s scrimmage with an eye to the big picture coming later.
Actually the white team won, which included the no. 1 defense, which is the reason they won. For the defense to perform like this was probably the most encouraging thing that could have happened. You’re nuts if you’re worried about this offense after they struggled in a exhibition/scrimmage setting playing against a 30 mph wind. Oklahoma looked similarly shaky a year ago in a similar setting and then had the most explosive offense in college football history.
The most important scrimmage of the week isn’t Saturday, it occurred on Wednesday when the first and second team each went about 30 plays. Predictably, the offense won. The defense didn’t play too poorly, other than shooting itself in the foot with penalties.
Today’s practice was much lighter, and mainly just a rehearsal for Saturday’s production.
Like in recent weeks, the team portion will follow as soon as we have it.
For now, the prospects planning to be in Austin on Saturday. Southern hospitality…aka the list.
Here’s a current-ish list of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 prospects heading to Austin for the Orange-White Game during Made in Texas weekend.
Jordan Spieth is the only Texas-Ex competing at this year’s Masters, the first major championship of the year. He joins a field of 87 players taking on the Augusta National Golf Club, 7,475 yards, par 72.
Tom Herman’s spring games at Texas have followed a particular trend over the last two years. They are vanilla, don’t include much of the run game, and tend to consist of the various teams throwing the ball against each other in the base offensive concepts. Of course Texas is a run-centric team heading into 2019 with a pair of young RBs getting all the attention, but Herman’s goal for the spring game clearly isn’t geared around trying to beat Texas or encouraging a physical fight that only has downsides.
I hesitate to say this, but UT is sitting in a good position for a number of top 2021 prospects. This will just make you wonder why they aren’t committing yet, “if these players really do like UT,” but it’s true.
It’s a very talented class, though not without its holes — stares at the linebacker room for the fourth cycle in a row.
Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando addressed questions Tuesday surrounding the defense this spring including utilizing depth to replace injuries, finding eight new starters, and marking new leadership candidates. Orlando addressed all these uncertainties in a press conferences Tuesday, but his comments about the offense he sees every practice were the real attention getters.
To this point, Texas senior Matteo Bocchi’s baseball career has been one of constant change.