Texas Football: 3 takeaways from Day 1 of fall practice

Jahleel Billingsley’s hamstring tightness is the one negative amid a good day of injury updates

About the only bad bit of injury news (outside of Luke Brockermeyer), at least among the updates that Sark gave in his Aug. 3 presser, concerned the former Alabama Crimson Tide tight end transfer and senior Jahleel Billingsley. Sark and the Longhorns staff apparently saw Billingsley suffer some hamstring tightness that had him limping in the latter stages of practice on this day.

Sark also harped on the theme of his staff taking it slow with any potential injury concerns in the early stages of fall practice. He doesn’t want to risk any unnecessary injuries early on in fall camp, which makes sense.

That is especially the case given how much healthier Texas looks in fall camp this year compared to the last few seasons. We saw both freshman quarterback Maalik Murphy and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Troy Omeire get back at or near full speed in practice reps for the first time this offseason.

And that was definitely one of the big highlights of the first day of fall practice that we get to see someone with one of the most unfortunate injury track records in Omeire get back near full speed. Omeire has yet to take a single live-game snap for the Longhorns as he suffered two season-ending knee injuries in his first two years on the Forty Acres.

All in all, though, we’re likely going to continue to see Sark and the Longhorns staff take it easier on any players that suffer through some of these more minor injuries such as what Billingsley dealt with on the first day of camp. Yet, Sark also made the point clear that, as we move closer to the regular season opener on Sep. 3, the staff will have to push more to get this team ready for the 2022 campaign.