3 takeaways from Texas's first pads-on fall practice

The pads came on for Texas football's first fall practice of the second week of training camp on Aug. 5. Texas put more than just a helmet and shorts on for a practice in front of the media for the first time since the start of preseason camp last week for drills on Monday at the Frank Denius Fields.

Practice gets more physical and up-tempo in team drills for Texas football to start Week 2 of camp

This was also the first time that there was a media viewing window at fall practice for the Longhorns since last Thursday's practice. This week's first fall practice provided the media with a good glimpse into the progress and competitiveness of the Longhorns' team drills with more intensity with the pads coming on for the players.

To start the second week of fall practice, there was some depth chart movement for the Longhorns and other notable updates and nuggets from various practice reports we want to break down. Today's practice featured more 11-on-11 work than we've seen in front of the media at any point early in preseason camp.

Here are three takeaways from the first pads-on practice for the Longhorns on Aug. 5.

Texas is still experimenting to build cohesion in the secondary

One of the biggest moves on the two-deep depth chart for the Longhorns on the defensive side of the ball in today's practice came at the safety position. Sophomore Jelani McDonald took the first-team practice reps at field safety alongside redshirt junior Michael Taaffe at the boundary spot.

Senior Andrew Mukuba and sophomore Derek Williams Jr. took the second-team practice reps at safety in 11-on-11 team drills and simulated live-game action in camp on Monday.

This is the first time McDonald has consistently taken the first-team practice reps at safety at any point of this offseason, dating back to spring practice. This is a really good sign for McDonald's progress at the safety position over the past few months.

We could see plenty of depth chart movement continue in the defensive backfield for the Longhorns in the next few weeks of fall practice to get the pieces in the right place to man the secondary entering the regular season. Since the start of fall practice last week, it's been a potential point of concern to see the first and second-team defensive backs getting beat more often than not in one-on-one receiver drills.

Getting some of these younger, talented defensive backs developing at a rate as fast as guys like McDonald and junior Jaylon Guilbeau has (since he started getting fully healthy this offseason) is a big x-factor for the secondary this fall. Texas needs a more consistent safety rotation and better play from the corners in man coverage against top receiving corps for this secondary to take a necessary step forward in 2024.