Texas got its first real fall camp test on Saturday, and Steve Sarkisian came away with a mixed but useful snapshot of where the Longhorns stand three weeks before the opener against Texas State.
The biggest obstacle wasn’t scheme or execution - it was illness. Sarkisian said the flu swept through the team and kept several players out of the scrimmage, naming Rasheem Biles, John Meredith III, Ty'Anthony Smith, Daylan McCutcheon, Justus Terry and Brad Spence.
The good news for Texas: Sarkisian said there were no notable injuries to report. The concern, though, is that the bug may not be done working its way through the roster.
"I'm anticipating we may have a few more that that fought through today," Sarkisian said. "We'll see what happens."
Even with bodies missing, the scrimmage still produced some notable defensive moments. Cornerback Graceson Littleton delivered a 75-yard interception return, another reminder of the playmaking he flashed last year as a true freshman.
Safety Jonah Williams also came up with a big takeaway, picking off a pass in the end zone to shut down an offensive drive. Williams, who had shoulder surgery during the baseball season, is healthy now and could be in line for a larger secondary role in 2026.
On the offensive side, Sarkisian singled out freshman running back Derrek Cooper for praise, and it was the kind of praise that makes it sound like Texas already knows what it has. Cooper is expected to open the season third on the depth chart, but Sarkisian made it clear he believes the talent is real.
"I really love D Coop," Sarkisian said. "He's a hard charging guy.
He plays physical. He plays fast.
He's a very natural football player. I don't know if you've seen any of his high school film, but he played defense, he played offense.
Whatever was needed to be successful. So the game comes pretty naturally to him.
I think the area where he had to take the biggest jump was really understanding pass protection."
The defense, as expected, made life difficult. Sarkisian said Will Muschamp’s group was “a little bit ahead” of the offense on Saturday, though he stressed that the team is still early in camp and still sorting out where it needs to sharpen up.
"We've all got to take a step forward," Sarkisian said. "We've all got to continue to improve so that we can get better as a team because we're not a finished product.
But I do think for a week and a half into training camp. today served as a good kind of barometer for where we're at, where our weaknesses are, where we need to improve, where our strengths are that we can lean into. But I would probably say the defense was a little bit ahead today."
There were touchdowns on both sides, and Sarkisian laid out several of the scoring plays from the scrimmage. Cam Coleman hit a “long” TD, Arch Manning threw a touchdown, Ryan Wingo also had a “long” TD, KJ Lacey found Raleek Brown for a score, and Dia Bell connected with Kohen Brown for a touchdown.
That last one matters for the quarterback picture, too. All three quarterbacks threw touchdown passes, and the Dia Bell-to-Kohen Brown connection is another sign Bell may be pulling ahead of MJ Morris for the QB3 job.
Sarkisian also came away encouraged by the first offensive line group, and he pointed to the kind of details Texas has been hammering all offseason: physicality, running the ball and protecting the quarterback.
"I was really encouraged with the first offensive line unit," Sarkisian said. "We've been harping on physicality and we've been harping on running the ball all off season, and I thought they did that today.
I thought they played a physical brand of football. I thought they protected the quarterback well.
I thought they showed good continuity with one another."
The five starters on that unit were Trevor Goosby at left tackle, Laurence Seymore at left guard, Connor Robertson at center, Brandon Baker at right guard and Melvin Siani at right tackle.
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