THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

1. Scrimmage notes are always entertaining

As you all know by now, the Longhorns held a scrimmage on Saturday morning (don’t miss Anwar’s report on that scrimmage if you missed it over the weekend). I also was able to connect with a couple of sources to grab some notes from that workout ...

- As was reported, wide receiver Jordan Whittington was banged up but sources I talked to said it was more of a precautionary move to take him out of practice. In fact, I was told that Whittington came back out and was coaching up the young receivers while he was held out, and he seemed to be in good spirits (Steve Sarkisian would confirm this week that Whittington is fine and was back at practice on Monday).

- Apparently there’s been a stomach bug that has limited some of the players, including Xavier Worthy. Like Whittington, Worthy was back at practice on Monday.

- One source said the scrimmage wasn’t as clean as it needed to be. “There were false starts and jumping offsides.” Apparently, Steve Sarkisian was not thrilled with the mental mistakes and felt the team was kind of going through the motions. Sark told the team (paraphrasing) “I know next Saturday, it’ll be better,” but it was more of a demand than a declaration. Sark didn’t rip on the team too heavily, just noted that with the heat, fatigue, hitting it hard all week, the first full week in pads that guys were tired but they need to be able to stay sharp mentally.

- The coaches seem pleased with how Arch Manning looked more comfortable than he has in maybe any other practice in a UT uniform. One source said everyone watching was shocked by Manning’s long touchdown run. “It was against some 2s and 3s, but there were still some fast guys out there and he outran all of them,” one source said.

- Per a separate observer from the one above, Manning threw the ball well. In a lot of drills before they start scrimmaging, it’s 7-on-7 type stuff, and Manning was dumping the ball off well when the receivers were covered. It’s not flashy, but both A.J. Milwee and Sark were quick to praise Manning for taking what’s available. The same source said Manning doesn’t always through the prettiest ball and it’s not always the tightest spiral, but the passes get to where they need to be. Others times, his passes look textbook.

- Keilan Robinson had some really nice runs, per another source. “He’s a little ball of muscle, so quick and fast.”

- Overall thoughts on the team … “You see the potential, but they need to be sharper on both sides of the ball. If you’re making aggressive errors, that’s one thing, but if you’re making bad mental errors, they have to clean that up.”

- It was nearly a three-hour scrimmage, per one source. Despite the tough practice and the heat, Torre Becton was not backing off on them. After practice, the team ran and did gassers. Even during that running, one source said the guys were still in good spirits. “Own your reps,” the players were telling each other. Quinn Ewers was out there leading the players.

- Jonathon Brooks looked good. The run game looked pretty good overall. Jonathon Brooks is back and feeling better and looked very good, per one person.

- Liona Lefau was singled out as looking better than one person expected. “He looks like a DB, a smallish guy wearing 18. But he’s got a motor.”

- New punter Ryan Sanburn was bombing the ball and getting a lot of hangtime on his punts. One observer said the punting game appears to be in as good of hands as it’s been in a long time.

2. Texas is confident with Ryan Wingo, but so is Missouri

If you’ve paid attention to my reporting over the last months or so, I’ve felt pretty strongly that the eventual decision for 5-star receiver Ryan Wingo would come down to ...

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