Texas coach Steve Sarkisian simply couldn’t contain his glee Monday when sitting down with reporters to talk about the season opener against Colorado State.
“What an exciting time,” Sarkisian said.
The new season is exciting, for sure. Fourth-ranked Texas will likely be favored in almost every game on the schedule this season. Many pundits have the Longhorns pegged to be a high seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff format.
But it starts against the Rams, a team led by Jay Norvell who was once a UT assistant under Charlie Strong almost a decade ago.
Asked if there was a checklist for the season opener, Sarkisian stressed the importance of fundamentals.
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“I think one of the keys is you try to minimize the self-inflicted wounds in week one,” Sarkisian said. “And what are those? False starts, illegal formations, lining up in the neutral zone, jumping offsides. You try to minimize the penalties in the special teams game.”
Believe it or not, substitution errors are critical. “You know, you want to have 11 guys on the field. You don't want to get stuck with 12 or 10 and having to waste time outs naturally.”
Confident tackling is important. “How are we tackling? Are we bringing our feet?,” he said.
And Sarkisian would like to get a lot of players onto the field just to gauge everyone’s comfort level.
“If you’re in the two-deep (roster), you're playing in the first half,” Sarkisian said.
A huge part of the heavy rotation is based on the playing conditions. It was expected to be a 100-degree scorcher for the 2:30 p.m. kickoff. The Horns may catch a break as 40-percent rain chances are now projected for Saturday with a high of 91 degrees. Darn near jacket weather in Texas.
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The Longhorns have a slew of returning players, like quarterback Quinn Ewers and defensive end Barryn Sorrell. But all eyes will be on the offensive backfield as running back Jaydon Blue steps in for the injured CJ Baxter.
“We’re going to run it between the tackles,” Sarkisian said. “They learn how to run from the day they show up here.
“Three years ago, I couldn't have said that about Jayden Blue,” Sarkisian quickly noted, “but he’s been an understudy to Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson, Jonathan Brooks, and he's more than capable.”
Blue didn’t necessarily disagree. He’s listed at 6-feet, 200 pounds. Both of those might be generous.
“Yeah, the main thing is just me putting on weight,” Blue said. “I knew that was something I was going to have to do in order to play at this level and to be able to run between the tackles.
Asked about his diet. He joked there was a lot of steak along with red beans and rice. Once he got his weight up, Blue believed “everything else was going to fall in place.”
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