3 takeaways from Texas's first week of fall practice

Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian have been busy in the first week of preseason camp, with four straight days of practices between Wednesday afternoon and Saturday night. There's been plenty of excitement, especially on the offensive side of the ball, with how Texas has looked and built upon its progress during spring ball and summer workouts in the first week of training camp.

Week 2 of fall practice loading for Texas football

During the first three days of fall practice, the Longhorns were in helmets and shorts going through drills with minimal to no contact. But that changed on Aug. 3, with the players getting involved in more contact drills as a team in their last practice this weekend.

Texas went through more team drills also in what sounded like a pretty competitive and more intense Saturday night practice on Aug. 3. There was some depth chart movement on defense as well as more notes and takeaways from the last two days of practice on Friday and Saturday.

We have a lot to discuss and unpack before the Longhorns get to Week 2 of fall practice on Monday and Tuesday.

Here are three takeaways after the conclusion of the first week of fall practice for the Longhorns.

Defensive tackle depth has turned into a strength

A significant concern for the Longhorns that they addressed during the winter and spring this offseason in the portal was defensive tackle depth and proven experience in that position room. Texas stocked up on senior defensive tackles from the portal in the winter and spring windows to alleviate those concerns entering the fall, including with guys like Jermayne Lole, Bill Norton, and Tia Savea.

Texas has an abundance of experienced senior defensive tackles to fill the rotation along the iDL, with the portal additions joining returning seniors Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton at the start of fall practice this week.

But it's not just the more seasoned upperclassmen at defensive tackle that have provided a big source of optimism for the Longhorns and Kenny Baker early in preseason camp. Greener defensive tackles (including a couple of underclassmen) like junior Aaron Bryant and true freshman Alex January have performed well in the last few practices this week.

OTF reported on Aug. 4 that January took the first-team reps at defensive tackle in practice at DKR on Saturday night. January has done a great job asserting his physicality and showing good pad level in dual lineman and team drills in the last few days.

Between the five seniors Texas has leading this deep and rejuvenated defensive tackle room this fall, having younger linemen step up just goes to show that the front seven can be really good in the SEC this season.