Texas Football: 4 biggest position battles heading into fall camp
Texas football begins fall camp in roughly 24 hours. Players reported for fall practice on Aug. 1, the same day that head coach Steve Sarkisian, offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood, and co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Pete Kwiatkowski spoke to the media before the start of fall camp.
A long offseason is about to end for Texas fans with the start of training camp this week, especially with the regular season opener almost one month away. Sark and the Longhorns open up the 2023 regular season on Sep. 2 at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium against the Rice Owls.
There are plenty of storylines to dissect for the Longhorns heading into fall camp. But one of the most important storylines will be position battles. Sark and the Longhorns only have a handful of position battles that will play out in fall camp, which isn’t necessarily bad.
But these few position battles for the Longhorns heading into fall camp are still important to watch on both sides of the ball as the staff configures the two-deep depth chart for the regular season opener on Sep. 2.
Biggest Texas football position battles to watch in fall camp
Here’s an analysis of the Longhorns’ four biggest position battles for fall camp.
Steve Sarkisian on fall camp position battles: “I think running back is going to end up being a tough call as we get to that point. I think what we do in the secondary is going to be unique and difficult. I think who plays next to Jaylan Ford is going to be one.”
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) August 1, 2023
Running back
Candidates: Jonathon Brooks, Keilan Robinson, CJ Baxter Jr.
The position battle that is probably the most decided heading into fall camp of the four spots on this list is running back. Texas has a likely RB1 in the fold heading into training camp in redshirt sophomore running back Jonathon Brooks.
Texas OC Kyle Flood says it will be Jonathon Brooks in the backfield with the first team for the first snap of fall camp tomorrow.
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_TFB) August 1, 2023
No surprise there.
Sark did mention running back among the “notable” position battles during his pre-training camp press conference on Aug. 1. Coinciding with what Sark said in a way, though, Flood mentioned in his part of the press conference on Aug. 1 that Brooks will be getting the first-team practice reps to start fall camp for the Longhorns.
The real battle at running back will decide who takes the most reps out of the backfield in live-game action this fall. Talented backs such as sophomore Jaydon Blue, true freshman CJ Baxter Jr., and redshirt senior Keilan Robinson will duke it out to see who gets the most reps heading into Week 1, likely behind Brooks.
I say “most likely” since Brooks is the probable RB1 for Week 1 against Rice as long as he is healthy.