Texas Football: 3 standouts from the first spring scrimmage
Over the weekend, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian took part in the first scrimmage of spring ball. And while this scrimmage wasn’t with the usual intensity that you would see during the fall or even sometimes right before the spring game, there were still some notable nuggets, especially coming from the trenches on March 25.
It was also important for the Longhorns to get to show off some of the scrimmage action in practice this spring in the midst of the second Junior Day festivities of the offseason thus far.
Texas had a really busy weekend in the last few days that featured the likes of the coaches clinic in Austin, Junior Day, and the open practice/scrimmage on March 25. This was an unusually busy weekend, especially in the midst of a Junior Day event such as the cookout that Sark and the Longhorns staff hosted on March 25.
But it still sounded like a resounding success from the early feedback coming out of the first open scrimmage of the spring and the second Junior Day of the offseason.
Quinn Ewers and the impressive Texas football players in the first open scrimmage of the spring
With that in mind, here’s a look at three standouts from the first scrimmage of spring ball.
T’Vondre Sweat, DL
A name that we’ve heard a lot about this spring along the defensive line for DL coach Bo Davis and the Longhorns is the returning super senior defensive lineman T’Vondre Sweat. The sizable 6-foot-4 and 355-pound fifth-year senior is invaluable for the Longhorns to have returning along the defensive line in 2023.
And it sounds like Sweat is really looking the part of every bit of a leader for the Longhorns along the defensive line in camp. He’s getting after it in the individual defensive line drills, and he’s apparently looked really dominant in one-on-one drills in the trenches.
Bobby Burton and Justin Wells of Inside Texas/On Texas Football even mentioned that Sweat came up with a pick on a batted ball that he got during the open scrimmage on March 25.
Sweat apparently got a good read on a throw from redshirt sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers during the scrimmage, and wound up getting his mitts on the ball for an impressive interception.
It also sounds like Sweat was consistently moving bodies off the line of scrimmage and was winning most of the battles against the first and second-team offensive linemen in the trenches during the weekend.
Texas clearly has a very formidable top group of defensive linemen returning to anchor this group in the trenches in Sweat and junior Byron Murphy II.