Texas’ first major scrimmage was hit hard by the flu, sidelining key players and leaving Arch Manning with an uneven performance under Steve Sarkisian.
Texas wanted Saturday’s scrimmage to answer questions. Instead, the Longhorns got a reminder of how quickly training camp plans can fall apart.
A flu outbreak ripped through the Texas football roster, forcing multiple key players to miss the first major full-pads scrimmage of camp and disrupting several position battles Steve Sarkisian hoped to evaluate before the Sept. 5 opener against Texas State.
Among those unavailable were Daylan McCutcheon, Justus Terry, Brad Spence, Rasheem Biles, Ty’Anthony Smith and John Meredith. The timing couldn’t have been much worse.
Terry and Smith are both fighting for starting roles, while Biles is still settling into the defense after arriving at Texas.
Missing a scrimmage designed to simulate real game conditions costs those players valuable snaps at exactly the wrong time.
Sarkisian also managed the workload of several offensive stars, including Arch Manning, Cam Coleman, Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley.
The group played the opening series, sat for a stretch, returned for a red-zone period and then saw more action later.
That unusual rhythm may have contributed to what Sarkisian called an inconsistent day from Manning.
“I think he can play cleaner than he played today,” Sarkisian said, adding that Manning could be “a little bit more efficient, a little bit more accurate.”
But Sarkisian didn’t sound overly concerned.
He pointed out that Manning has looked strong throughout the early portion of camp and said Saturday’s setup wasn’t exactly designed to help the quarterback settle into a groove.
“I wanted them to almost feel like an NFL preseason game one,” Sarkisian said.
That meant long stretches of inactivity followed by sudden bursts of reps, something that can make it difficult for any quarterback to establish timing.
There were still flashes.
Sarkisian noted that Manning made “some high-level plays,” which is likely the bigger takeaway this early in camp.
Texas would’ve preferred a clean, uninterrupted evaluation day. Instead, sickness emptied parts of the depth chart and changed the structure of the scrimmage.
The good news is that there’s still time.
The Longhorns have several weeks before the season begins, and Saturday’s issues appear more frustrating than alarming.
Still, for players fighting for jobs and a quarterback preparing to carry massive expectations, every rep matters.
Texas lost a few of those Saturday. Now the goal is getting healthy and getting sharper.
