Despite adding critical experience to the roster through the transfer portal, Texas football still possesses the fourth-youngest roster in the country heading into 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Youth on the roster doesn\u2019t have to hurt the Longhorns, and some of Texas\u2019 younger players could actually become critical playmakers in the season ahead \u2014 but a few things have to go right in training camp for these rookies to be ready for gameday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Head coach Steve Sarkisian\u2019s biggest question for his first-year players after the first day of fall camp was: \u201cDo they know what to do?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarkisian acknowledged that perfect execution is an unrealistic expectation for the rookies\u2019 first days on the field. However, whether players can process information and apply it on the field indicates how coachable they might be down the road. He also said he plans to pay close attention to how well they adjust from day-to-day as camp progresses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fall camp also provides the opportunity for older players to embrace leadership opportunities and help show everyone else the ropes. Ryan Niblett, senior running back and gadget weapon, is among this group of experienced playmakers, and his advice to the first-years is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust leave high school where it\u2019s at,\u201d Niblett said. \u201cOne thing our coaches like to say (is) in order to (be) a great leader, you\u2019ve got to be a great follower. So, ultimately, just buying into the program is what I say is the biggest thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Buying in might sound simple, but execution can be complicated, especially for first-time collegiate athletes training in 95-100 degree weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This difficult adjustment presented itself with freshman defensive back John Meredith III, who recently reclassified from the class of 2027 to the class of 2026 to arrive on the Forty Acres a year early. Meredith, who should technically still have another season of high school football left to prepare to play at the college level, seemingly struggled in the heat on his first day of training.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in real freshman moments right now,\u201d Sarkisian said about Meredith. \u201cA lot of our freshmen have been with us since January. This guy just showed up a week ago, so everything is brand new to him. But I thought he fought through. I thought he worked at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meredith, along with several other members of the 2026 class, could prove to be crucial parts of Texas\u2019 depth chart, especially with the daunting Southeastern Conference schedule ahead. Right now, in addition to teaching the freshmen plays and getting them used to the heat and intensity of practice, the coaching staff is working on emulating game-like situations in hopes of preventing penalties down the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a young guy, you\u2019re trying to showcase your best ability, so you try to get extra aggressive, but ultimately that allows penalties and stuff like that,\u201d Niblett said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re older, you\u2019re a lot more (focused) on your technique and your coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
As training camp continues to unfold, more will be revealed about this freshman class and what each member brings to the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite adding critical experience to the roster through the transfer portal, Texas football still possesses the fourth-youngest roster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-403332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}