{"id":360020,"date":"2025-12-20T13:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T13:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/360020\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T13:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T13:47:07","slug":"steve-sarkisian-identifies-young-players-who-capitalized-on-developmental-december-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/360020\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Sarkisian identifies young players who capitalized on “developmental” December practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

During his Friday press conference, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian<\/a> said the Longhorns\u2019 first six Citrus Bowl practices were geared toward his program\u2019s younger players who hadn\u2019t seen as much action this year. Those training sessions functioned as opportunities for more hands-on work with players further down the depth chart before today started real on-field prep for Michigan for the frontline Horns.<\/p>\n

[Sign up for Inside Texas for just $1! Get the latest on the NCAA Transfer Portal, Citrus Bowl Prep, and Coaching Turnover]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys\u2019 energy, intent in practice \u2014 we had six developmental practices where we were really focused on getting back to the fundamentals, the techniques, the basics of what and how we try to play to play football around here,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cThose guys embraced those practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked who stood out, Sarkisian mentioned a few players by name but as usual lamented the fact that he might have left someone out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was really good practice for the running backs,\u201d Sarkisian said. (New Texas running backs coach Jabbar) Juluke<\/a> got in a little sooner, so to see those guys practice with the intent they practiced with, I think about Christian Clark<\/a>, James Simon<\/a>, Michael Terry<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark was a redshirt freshman during the 2025 season. Simon and Terry, both true freshmen, maintained their redshirts.<\/p>\n

This year, Clark had 35 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown. Most of those touches came against San Jose State, UTEP, and Sam Houston. In SEC play, he had eight carries for 16 yards in four games. Simon finished the season with 29 carries for 122 yards. The majority of those carries were against UTEP, where he had 17 rushes for 67 yards. His only touches in SEC play came versus Oklahoma, where he had three carries for five yards and a reception for a loss of one yard. <\/p>\n

Terry saw six snaps versus Sam Houston prior to his midseason move to running back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese have been great practices for Jaime Ffrench<\/a> and Kaliq Lockett<\/a>,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/p>\n

Lockett had three catches for 12 yards while Ffrench had one reception for six yards. Ffrench\u2019s only SEC action on offense was five snaps versus Arkansas. Lockett\u2019s sole SEC appearance on offense was a three-snap day versus Vanderbilt. Both maintained their redshirts<\/p>\n

\u201cI think about Emaree Winston<\/a> who kind of fell back a little bit. Nick Townsend<\/a>, we saw his growth,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cAnd Jordan (Washington)<\/a>. I think Emaree, those practices were good for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winston logged offensive snaps versus San Jose State, UTEP, Sam Houston, Florida, Oklahoma, and Mississippi State. He was part of Texas\u2019 tight end rotation for much of the first part of the season, and even logged two catches for 47 yards in early-year action. He did not play once the calendar turned to November. <\/p>\n

Townsend was a revelation for the Longhorns. Though his statistical contributions were limited, he scored a rushing touchdown against Texas A&M in the last game of the regular season. Townsend logged double-digit snaps versus San Jose State, UTEP, Sam Houston, Mississippi State, Arkansas, and Texas A&M and showed impressive tenacity as a blocker.<\/p>\n

Washington finished the season with seven catches for 109 yards and a touchdown that came versus Sam Houston. He played double-digit snaps versus San Jose State, UTEP, Sam Houston, Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think about Zelus Hicks<\/a> at safety,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cI thought these practices have been great for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks played in one game, the Sam Houston contest. Originally a member of the class of 2026, Hicks reclassified and enrolled early at the beginning of this year. He did not record any stats. <\/p>\n

\u201cBo Barnes<\/a> at linebacker, which he\u2019s going to be needed,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cWe\u2019re a little thin at that spot. He\u2019ll probably play in this game. We\u2019re getting him ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Monday<\/a> following the news of Liona Lefau<\/a>\u2018s portal intentions\u2026<\/p>\n

A true freshman from Dallas (Texas) Skyline, Barnes has one career tackle to his name. He played versus San Jose State, Sam Houston, and Arkansas in 2025 and made his lone stop late versus the Razorbacks. Of his 24 defensive snaps in 2025, 21 were off-ball reps according to PFF. Listed at 244 pounds by Texas, Barnes is currently several pounds shy of his official listing and has received a significant amount of reps during Texas\u2019 bowl practices according to a source. Barnes was On3\u2019s No. 1 linebacker and No. 32 overall prospect in the 2025 cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of the interior defensive linemen in Josiah Sharma<\/a> and Myron Charles<\/a>,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cI think these practices have been great for them. Smith Orogbo<\/a>. A lot of faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharma, Charles, and Orogbo all redshirted. Sharma logged one tackle in three games but did not play in any SEC contests. Charles played in two games with one tackle. He also did not face any SEC competition. Orogbo made a splash one of his two appearances, logging a sack and a forced fumble late in the Sam Houston game. All maintained their redshirts.<\/p>\n

While most of those mentioned may not see a considerable increase in playing time versus Michigan, Sarkisian emphasized they all need to be ready because of the amount of players who won\u2019t be available for the Longhorns in Orlando.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019ve only got 65 scholarship players, everybody\u2019s got to be ready to go,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not in the starting lineup, you keep your batting (gloves) in the dugout because you never know when your number is going to get called into the on-deck circle. Everybody\u2019s got to be ready to go in this game and that should serve as a good opportunity for these guys to practice with real intent to be ready to play come the 31st.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During his Friday press conference, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said the Longhorns\u2019 first six Citrus Bowl practices…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[177815,177816,177817,399,1391,1393,177818,177819,1399,177820,177821,398,396,397,177822,4504,177823,99,138790,177824],"class_list":["post-360020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-christian-clark-24-mountain-pointe","tag-elijah-barnes-25-skyline","tag-emaree-winston-25-calhoun","tag-football","tag-jaime-ffrench-25-mandarin","tag-james-simon-25-calvary-baptist-academy","tag-jordan-washington-24-langham-creek","tag-josiah-sharma-25-folsom","tag-kaliq-lockett-25-sachse","tag-michael-terry-iii-25-alamo-heights","tag-myron-charles-25-port-charlotte","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-nick-townsend-25-dekaney","tag-regwall","tag-smith-orogbo-25-alief-hastings","tag-sports","tag-steve-sarkisian-92-west","tag-zelus-hicks-26-carrollton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}