Texas Football: 3 players impressing in practice after spring break

The first day of spring practice following the conclusion of the week of spring break for head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas football took place on March 21. Texas took part in its second full-pads practice of spring camp this week.

The first spring practice this week also kicked off one of the busier stretches of camp. Texas will have multiple practices in the last few days of this week, with the possibility of the first scrimmage of camp taking place this coming weekend.

Sark and the Longhorns are also hosting the second Junior Day weekend of the offseason thus far. Texas’ Junior Day festivities will mostly take place on March 25. But that can last throughout the entire weekend with a bevy of priority visiting recruits expected to make their way to Austin in a couple of days.

Last but not least, Texas will also be hosting the Coaches Clinic on March 24 and 25.

Between the Coaches Clinic, Junior Day, and the multiple practices (and potentially a scrimmage) just in the next few days, it’s clear to see why Sark and the Longhorns have such a jam-packed schedule after spring break.

Texas football players sticking out in the second week of spring camp

While there is a lot going on, we’re not forgetting about some of the spring standouts that we’ve heard about from practice in the first half of this week. Here’s a look at three Longhorns players impressing in practice so far this week.

Jaydon Chatman, OL

The top-rated offensive lineman to sign with the Longhorns in the 2023 class was the highly touted former four-star Harker Heights (TX) recruit Jaydon Chatman. The 6-foot-4 and 300-pound Chatman had high expectations upon his arrival on the Forty Acres a couple of months ago given his stature as a blue-chip recruit coming out of the high school ranks.

Yet, we didn’t hear as much about Chatman as we did some of the other early enrollees along the offensive line from the Longhorns 2023 class in the first week of spring ball. The same could be said for certain parts of the winter strength and conditioning program, where other early enrollees (namely Connor Stroh) really stole the show.

The early enrollee that we heard the most about during the first week of spring practice was offensive tackle Payton Kirkland, who was the only true freshman who got second-team reps along the offensive line.

It didn’t take long, though, for Chatman’s name to start to pop up more in the second week of spring practice. A report from Bobby Burton of On Texas Football/Inside Texas on March 22 mentioned that Chatman is one of the offensive linemen that has really blown OL coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and the Longhorns staff away in drills this week.

Chatman appears to be showing some of the physical maturity and fundamental skills along the offensive line that made him such a highly sought-after blue-chip coming out of high school. From the perspective of showing solid fundamental skills in practice (namely footwork and pad-level technique), Chatman appears to be really getting after it.