Sark Praises Team Effort, Refreshed RB Room & OL Depth

0:00Welcome to the Inside Texas Football YouTube channel powered by InsideTexas.com, Joe Cook, that's Evan Veeath, just got done talking to Steve Sarkiesian here on Tuesday morning. Just reached a halfway point of spring practices. Got a scrimmage under the belt now that spring break is over, so lots of good stuff from SART, lots of good stuff over at InsideTexas.com. So make sure you go there, get 50% off the annual subscription price. Use that first link in our description or use QR code at the top left of the screen. And one of the things that SART talked about today to jump into the conversation, Evan, is he is very, very happy with, you know, the 40-something new players and all the different additions that he's made that all the culture building efforts seem to be working. It seems to be everybody gives the right type of effort, the right type of competition to where, you know, there was a question about backup quarterback with KJLAC, Dia Bell, and MJ Morris. And Sark, as he does when he gets these hypothetical questions, like if, you know, so and so did this, he doesn't like any questions that really start with if.

1:04But the whole point was that the whole team is competing at this juncture, and that's something that makes him pretty happy because he's not seeing much low-fing, he's seeing stuff to correct, but he's not seeing lack of energy here in spring. And, you know, with 40 new guys, it seems like it's a good starting point for the team. Yeah, from, if you've just been paying any attention, you've heard from him at the end of the season's pasture kind of coming into the off season, and also at Crystal Article that came out on on three, that like he emits his faults with last year's culture and the way the team, it seemed like their whole spring operated. And it's clear this day that this is a different type of roster coming into the year, and that all these transfer players, despite their being half the roster pretty much show that is brand new, that they're getting acclimated to the type of, the type of environment, Sark once, and he seemed very emphatically happy about practice today. And that's the first time, you know, the two other times we've talked to him, it's kind of been more just like, you know, we're getting started. Really now, it feels like that competition is taking it up for the long ones. And yeah, he said every single player on this team is competing. There's no QB2 right now. There's no starting corner back. And, you know, we know who's going to

2:04be where generally, but kind of the idea of how Diabelle had a great scrimmage on Saturday, and it seems like she had another great practice today. Like these spots are still up for grabs in every single position in this roster. And he, he shout out a few players show that I don't think many people are going to be thinking about like Sterling Birkhalter as how there's already been really good returns. It's kind of the less hyped up wider seabird transfer, but they've seen really good things with him as just kind of a culture guy, a leader, but also he's playing well out on the practice field. We've seen that on inside Texas.com. And also a lot of those defensive players, you know, Raheem Biles at linebacker, not just that he's a great athlete, but he's actually doing the linebacker things well, which was kind of the one knock you had on him in the scouting report. Is, can he just be that traditional guy in the middle of the field in Bomasco, his versatility. Guys are all around the defense. Those new players seem to be making pretty happy right now. Yeah, it was pretty transfer heavy with what he was talking about today. But he did talk a little bit about freshmen in a certain position group you asked about. That was running backs. And, you know, Steve Sarkeesian, I think you put it the right way. He basically got to press reset on the running back room. You say goodbye to pretty much everybody, but James Simon bringing

3:11Hollywood smothers who bring in really Brown, you add Derek Cooper. And all four of those guys heard really good things said about them from Steve Sarkeesian today. Even Derek Cooper, who I think we had reported what for a long play on a Saturday during the scrimmage. Yeah, you know, this might have just been him grouping new and old and together, but he said our front three or first three guys and had Derek Cooper as the third Brown smothers and Cooper there. So take that as you will. That just might be him speaking a little bit when answering the question I said. But look out for Cooper. I mean, there's just been a lot of positive from from our sources and also just what Sarke said. I mean, this guy just just physically better than most high school running backs coming in should still be a senior in high school and getting ready for prom. But instead, he's here and he's not in the field get too big is what Sarke said. Like it's not it's not like the moments are too big and practice already in that he's struggling a little bit to find his spots. He knows what he's doing right now as the running back. And I think that's the one you could maybe see as the number one RB off off the bench for this team. And I do I did want to say like, you know,

4:11it isn't a complete reset, but it kind of is Joe. Like three of the running backs that return. It's only three. Only one of them was really a running back coming into last year. He joked that Ryan Nibble was playing DV last at this point last season. Michael Terry was a wide receiver. So there really is just a whole new look to this running back room in this spring compared to the last one. And that's to get them back to Joe the way of football they want to play in the types of of run game and the little amount of explosiveness they want. And I think that also kind of ties into the tight end room, which he talked about. Yeah, tight end room. He he really highlighted Michael Misunis ability to work in the C gap, which I know when Conor edits this, he's going to go straight to this point in the video and and start making it the most prominent one. But that's not something that they have had a ton of in the past few years. Sometimes they had to put an offensive lineman there to have that impact. So someone who can be an impact player in the run game and in past protection and, you know, go out for a route as needed. Oh yeah. And then he complimented everything from what he's seen from Nick Townsend from Spencer Shannon from Emory Winston. Like the whole tight end room was really something that he highlighted. As far as

5:16one other player that he highlighted, I really took it to be, you know, a great sign of his own development with with Jordan Colton. Yeah. And that's someone who saw a handful of snaps last year is getting a lot of snaps with the ones this spring because of the fact that Trevor Goose be limited. And it's tough. Texas is a tough place to play left tackle, not just during games, but on the practice fields. I will get to that in just a second. But he highlighted what Jordan Colman's been doing. And, you know, we can kind of see where guys are fitting in the big picture. We've written about how you need more than just your first five. And if he can fit into the picture as being in that six, seven, eight, nine range and can credibly play tackle, that'd be a big help for the Texas Longhorns offense in the fall. Yeah. And it's sort of kind of joked about how just tough of a position he got thrown into. If there's any player Joe on this roster who would have a slow start to the spring, it would have to be Coleman because he's playing left tackle after coming from a red shirt season. That's usually Trevor Goose. He's spot nailed down. And now

6:17you're getting thrust against guys like Lance Jackson and Colin Simmons and Zeno May Azulu. That's not easy, but it seems mostly positive from what Sark's saying. Like, of course, there's going to be a little bit of struggle there. He even joked that Colin Simmons, last week, like he's got to take it easy a little bit because he's just a little too advanced at this point. But yeah, you're looking at Coleman as a guy who he hand picked to be the left tackle behind Trevor Goose be right now. And that's that's a big compliment to the guy because he, like I said, he was just a red shirt freshman with this password. He's red shirt freshman now was red shirting as a freshman this past year. So you're just looking for that backup tackle. And I think we would all prefer if instead of having him forespread and Baker to go from right guard to left tackle in the middle of the end, you could just have someone God for bid Trevor Goose be good to hurt for the whole year that you can just put in and be that guy. And that's why these are such important reps for Coleman. Important reps are lacy and bell if they're going to be the QB2s of this team. Like these guys have to be ready to play in the fall if something happens. So getting them going in the spring like this is just really beneficial for the team. And with Colin Simmons Sark really highlighted his maturity, how he's changed over the past couple of years where used to just think about a 11 on 11 rep,

7:23even with a quarterback in a no-touch jersey. Well, he could have just, you know, grabbed the belt, ended the play, or he knows he won the rep. He goes past him. And that's a very small example of, you know, a lot of players could do that, immature players could do that. But it shows us the evidence at least for Sarkin company that since that freshman year he's made a lot of strides, not only just in how he carries himself, but how he carries himself within the program. And as one of the faces of the program, and that's just more stuff you want to hear throughout the course of the spring. A lot of other stuff you want to hear throughout the course of the spring. That's over on InsideTexas.com. So make sure you go to that first link in our description. Make sure you use that QR code at the top left of the screen, get 50% off the annual price, get access to everything inside Texas on three and rivals offers. So Evan, thank you so much. Thank you for watching. We'll see you next time on the Inside Texas Football YouTube channel powered by InsideTexas.com.