New offensive faces emerge for Texas in the Citrus Bowl as roster changes create fresh opportunities and evaluation chances.
During the Citrus Bowl, Texas fans will see a few new faces on offense. That's become the new normal for teams participating in non-playoff bowl games.
"This is something that everybody in college football is going to have to get adjusted to," Texas offensive coordinator Kyle Flood said on Sunday morning. "Everybody's navigating this in real time."
The Longhorns will be without their top two running backs, Quintrevion Wisner and CJ Baxter, and their second leading receiver, Deandre Moore, after the three entered the transfer portal.
Their departures introduce a bit of challenge, but also some opportunity.
A big challenge for college teams in bowl games is their roster size. About a week ago, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said he had 65 players practicing and ready to play. For reference, the Longhorns have 85 players on scholarship every season.
The lack of bodies not only disrupts a team's depth but also its practice habits. Luckily for Texas, it has coaches with NFL experience, where teams are limited to 53-man active rosters. Notably, Sarkisian was an OC for the Atlanta Falcons in 2017 and 2018.
"What has helped us as a staff is the experience coming from the NFL, and knowing how to practice with less players," Flood said. "That part has been pretty seamless for us."
And that helps the coaching staff focus on the exciting nature of this week's Citrus Bowl.
Plans for next season are already well underway, and an extra game against a quality opponent gives them a chance to evaluate the roster further ahead of the Transfer Portal chaos.
And for players who're already set for a bigger role next season, it's a chance to dominate and show the world that they're coming.
"Some younger players, who maybe didn't have as big a role during the regular season, now their role gets to expand," Flood said. "That's really exciting, because not only does it give them a chance to impact the game this week, but you get a little glimpse of what's coming in the future."
Flood doesn't expect there to be tons of rotation at quarterback or the offensive line, but you can definitely expect to see some depth pieces at skill positions to see increased playing time.
"There's other positions where the rooms have changed a little bit over the last two weeks," he said. "There you're gonna see a little bit more rotation, a little bit more flexibility in terms of the game plan."