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cdain3

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  1. By: Justin and Eric

    Normally we’d wait for a more comprehensive recap but it’s getting later in the day.

    The scrimmage wasn’t over until about 2:45.

    — Quinn Ewers looked really good. He made some plays out of nothing. He handled the blitz well and stepped up and delivered.

    — Overall a good day from the receiving options, including Jahleel Billingsley who caught a TD from Ewers. Ja’Tavion Sanders made a play or two. Xavier Worthy caught a TD. Jordan Whittington and Casey Cain were also mentioned, as was Kelvontay Dixon who almost housed a bubble screen.

    — Hudson Card was late on a deep ball to Worthy allowing the DB to knock it down. He’s better on the underneath stuff when given time.

    — As far as we know there were No INTs. Even better news, there were no injuries.

    — Bijan Robinson made his typical unreal cut that led to a TD

    — Obviously the offense won the scrimmage a week after the defense had its way.

    We’ll have more as we get it.

  2. The Texas Longhorns Football team is two weeks away from the annual Orange-White Springe Game and Steve Sarkisian's squad just completed an action-packed scrimmage less than an hour ago. Horns 247 spoke with a number of sources on-site for Saturday's scrimmage to get their take on the day's events.

    —The consensus from all of the sources we spoke with was that Quinn Ewers was the MVP of the day. The Southlake Carroll product was spraying the ball vertically and horizontally across the field, including a 50+ yard TD to Xavier Worthy, A red zone TD to Jahleel Billingsley, another TD to Jordan Whittington on an orbit motion RPO, and a freaky sidearm throw to Ja'Tavion Sanders that reminded one source in attendance of Ewers' APEC training mate Patrick Mahomes.

    Ewers started the day with the twos and rotated between the first and second team with Hudson Card throughout the scrimmage. While all of the sources we spoke to felt Quinn Ewers was better on the day, they made it clear that Hudson Card looks improved in his own right with the highlight of his day being a well-placed ball to Bijan Robinson on a wheel route against David Gbenda who was in great coverage.

    —"I'd describe the passing attack as RPO and play-action heavy that attacked all levels of the field. I worry about how ball fake heavy they are considering the lack of push from the OL, but the run game seemed to get better as the scrimmage progressed."

    —The offense ran a lot more 12 personnel today than the last scrimmage with Ja'Tavion Sanders working inline while Jahleel Billingsley worked at H in more flexed out looks. Both tight ends moved across formations and had big days, it seemed the staff was making it a priority to get both Sanders and Billingsley targets including in the screen game. One HS head coach in attendance felt like Sanders was one of the three best players on the day and another mentioned it was good to see the former Denton Ryan five-star stay consistent after a great practice last Saturday.

    —"The offense struggled to run the ball at first but got better as the day went along. I thought Hayden Conner had a good day and he even worked some at left tackle. Bijan, Keilan Robinson, and Roschon all had good days but the defense just seems to consistently win in the run game against the 1st team O. I thought they looked a lot better in pass protection though, a ton of play-action and RPO concepts that they held up well on."

    —One of the scrimmage periods was working situational 3rd downs and Jordan Whittington remained the reliable target for both QBs that he's been all spring. One source felt that J-Whitt did enough to share MVP honors with Ewers on the day. Casey Cain had another solid day and Kelvontay "Moochie" Dixon responded well after a tough scrimmage last week including a long catch and run on a dart from Hudson Card. Isaiah Neyor was quiet on the day after a monster showing last week, but still looked good with a few catches on a relatively light workload.

    —Keilan Robinson was a big factor on the day and had a nice 10 yard touchdown run on inside zone towards the end of the scrimmage. Robinson and the other RBs featured heavily in the passing game and we were told Roschon Johnson notched a big gain on a screen.

    —Overall the offense was fairly vanilla (understandably so considering how many people were in attendance) but one thing that caught a source's eye was how many empty sets the Longhorns deployed. Last year the Horns found quite a bit of success from empty formations and according to multiple people in attendance the 12 personnel empty looks were very successful on the day. Every source we spoke to felt like the offense won the day.

    —The defense spent the majority of the scrimmage working in nickel and while our sources felt the offense got the better of them, weren't discouraged by their overall play. One thing that stood out that was music to my ears was the run fits by the entire linebacker group. DeMarvion Overshown, David Gbenda, Jaylan Ford, and Devin Richardson all were credited with tough open-field tackles in addition to workman-like every down run fits that prevented any busted runs.

    —"Biggest surprise of the day for me was Jamier Johnson, man that kid can play. He had at least two broken up passes and was just flying around nonstop. Helm seemed to have position on him once but he got physical while staying disciplined to avoid the flag for the PBU. Pumped for fans to see him in the Spring Game."

    —The defensive line was said to be one of the best position groups on the day, but we keep hearing similar feedback that they're fantastic against the run but aren't producing a consistent pass rush. One of the ways Pete Kwiatkowski started to generate a pass rush towards the end of practice was using "twists" with Moro Ojomo, Byron Murphy, and Vernon Broughton. Broughton tipped a pass while Ojomo forced Card to get rid of the ball early for an incompletion. T'Vondre Sweat and Devin Richardson had a 4th down stop on the goal-line where they chased down Keilan Robinson on an outside zone run that seemed sure to hit for a score.

    —"DeMarvion Overshown smacked Jonathon Brooks and had a great come from behind tackle on a Keilan Robinson outside zone carry. Keilan hit a jet touch pass and has had a couple of other nice plays so it was great seeing DMO's recovery speed in action to save that one. Jaylan Ford also had a great tackle in space on Whittington for no gain."

    —Sources felt that Ovie Oghoufo was again the best on the day, but true freshman Justice Finkley was said to be the second best on the edge for the Horns. Finkley had one major highlight where he dominated the rep against Jaylen Garth forcing Ewers to get rid of the ball early and overthrow Casey Cain for a long TD.

    —In addition to Jamier Johnson surprising a source in the defensive backfield, we heard that true freshman Xavion Brice had a solid day with his former high school teammate and current Texas commit Jamel Johnson in attendance.

    —Jahdae Barron has been one of the best defenders during spring ball and the defensive staff moved him around at corner and nickel during the scrimmage.

    —Anthony Cook was solid on the day and got into a light scrap after a play with Jahleel Billingsley. "Coaches got fired up and gave a little butt-chewing for Cook, wasn't a big deal and the coaches that were with me commented on how well the staff/players handled it."

    —Closing thoughts from a trusted source that's seen multiple practices this spring: "If Flood tinkers with the offensive line and gets the right personnel in place by Big12 play this offense has a chance to be lethal. They need Whittington to stay healthy and I realize I'm not making some brilliant point with that comment. He's been outstanding and I genuinely feel like they have 6-7 (including the RBs and TEs) dangerous weapons for the QBs to throw to." 

    "Defense looks a lot better overall and they are looking good with their gap integrity and run fitting but I'm just not sure they have the pass-rushing personnel or the shutdown DBs to be dominant on that side of the ball. Hopefully I'm underselling Watts, Cook, and Barron on the backend and they prove me wrong."

    Spring ball will conclude on April 23rd with the 2022 Orange-White Spring Game which will headline this year's 'Made in Austin' weekend, featuring UT sporting events the weekend of April 22nd through April 24th. The spring game is among the events to headline the weekend, but this year's 'Made in Austin Weekend' is also a Big 12 home series for No. 7 ranked Texas baseball when the Longhorns host Baylor for a three-game series starting on April 22nd.

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