Texas expected to start DeAndre Moore Jr. at wideout Week 1

In just a couple of days, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian open the 2024 regular season at home on Aug. 31 against the Colorado State Rams. Sarkisian spoke to the media today after Texas's Thursday practice, where he gave updates on multiple different players and both sides of the ball coming out of fall camp.

Texas football WR DeAndre Moore Jr. looking to secure a starting role entering Week 1 vs. Colorado State

Something else that we took away from Sarkisian's press conference on Thursday was him saying that he won't release a depth chart until the day of the game for the season opener on Saturday against Colorado State. Sarkisian didn't release a depth chart until just before kickoff on gameday for multiple games last season, so this theme of not releasing a two-deep until right before gametime is a common trend for him in the past couple of years.

We do have various camp and practice reports to infer what the two-deep will look like at a handful of different key position groups on both sides of the ball this weekend for Week 1.

One of the position groups that is of interest for the top rotation group entering Week 1 is receiver. Texas has rotated a top six group of wideouts in fall camp over the past month. The first team receiver group in individual and team drills at the start of fall practice was junior Isaiah Bond, sophomore Johntay Cook II, and sophomore DeAndre Moore Jr.

The second-team group early in fall practice was senior Silas Bolden, junior Matthew Golden, and true freshman Ryan Wingo. Redshirt freshman Ryan Niblett also worked in the rotation with the second-team receiving corps in the latter part of fall practice.

It sounds like from what's been reported after the past few practices in the middle of this week have a pretty consistent group of wideouts in that rotation of six or seven for the opener this weekend. Horns247 reported on Aug. 29 (paid content) that Moore and Bond are likely to be two of the wide receivers that are out on the field first for the offensive side of the ball on Saturday against Colorado State.

Depending on what the situation and game-plan Sarkisian has on offense to start the game, it also wouldn't be surprising to see either Bolden, Cook, or Golden with the first-team wideouts against Colorado State this weekend.

From what's been reported for the last couple of days of practice for the Longhorns ahead of Week 1, it sounds like Moore and Cook could see the fruits of their labor payoff from solid performances during preseason camp with starting roles to begin the regular season this weekend against Colorado State.

Moore has consistently been praised in various practice and scrimmages coming out of preseason camp over the past few weeks for his performances working out of the slot at receiver. He's also been the highest-effort outside blocker among the receivers with the first and second-team offensive units in team drills and the two fall scrimmages in the last few weeks.

With the departure of LA Rams receiver Jordan Whittington, who just made their 53-man roster coming out of the NFL preseason, Texas is looking for its next leader and proficient high-effort blocker in the receiving corps to line up from the slot. Moore fits the mould of what Texas had in the past few seasons with Whittington regarding his blocking efforts on the outside and the ability to work between the numbers as a slot wideout in the receiving game over the middle.

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