After 14 practices, Texas football will close out its spring on April 18 with … another practice.

This week, it was announced that an open practice will be the main attraction of Texas’ “Football Fan Day.” The announcement, though, may have come as a surprise to some fans who last saw the Longhorns in the Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31.

“I just think we’re at a point right now, especially at the line of scrimmage, where it’s hard to field just two teams,” Sarkisian said. “I just think playing two hours of four quarters of football might be difficult for us.”

Sarkisian later insisted that “I’d love to play a game.” He described a spring game two years ago — which featured backup quarterbacks Arch Manning and Trey Owens each throwing three touchdowns — as both “awesome” and “fun.” But he argued that if Texas is already struggling with having enough linemen for two rosters, a couple of injuries could make things even more difficult.

“We’ll modify it, and it’ll still be entertaining for the fans,” Sarkisian said. “But ideally, I’d love to play a game. I think it’s great for our players, too. Our players want to compete. There’s going to be a winner and a loser, and they would like that.”

Sarkisian said that UT’s open practice will feature some scrimmaging. There also will be drills and some tackling for fans to observe. The open practice will be held at Royal-Memorial Stadium and will kick off at 11 a.m. Outside of the stadium, Texas will host a street festival on Bevo Boulevard. After the practice, there will be an opportunity for fans to get player autographs and to take pictures with Sarkisian and members of the UT spirit squad.

For those who are interested in a really long day on campus, Texas baseball is playing at UFCU Disch-Falk Field that Saturday. The Longhorns host Alabama at 2 p.m.

Texas completed its 10th practice of the spring Tuesday, and Sarkisian said the team had a good scrimmage at the end of last week. Sarkisian felt the Longhorns could have been better at their most recent practice, and the message to his team is to not settle and keep pushing with the end of spring drills on the horizon.

“Spring ball is really difficult when you’re just practicing and there’s no real opponent that you’re getting ready to play,” Sarkisian said. “The real opponent is yourself. Like, how much can I push myself to become the best player that I can become? That’s something we’re trying to get our guys to understand. There’s certain guys that got it. Colin Simmons knows how to do it. He gets it. Ryan Wingo knows how to do it. He totally gets it. Raleek Brown, he gets it. He knows what he’s doing. 

“But some of the younger players (are needing to ask), how do I push myself? How do I compete against myself? How am I better today than I was yesterday, and what does that look like and what does that feel like? We’re going to play plenty of good opponents in the fall. Right now, we’re competing with ourselves of becoming the best players that we can become.”