Moments before the conclusion of practice, players in burnt orange jerseys lined up on the field.
It was the offensive players. They dropped to their chests, jumped back up to their feet, ran forward 5 yards, kept their legs moving and dropped to their chests again.
“Turnovers,” senior tight end Andrew Beck said. “It’s offensive discipline. We do 25 yards of up-downs for every turnover. We did 50 yards today.”
Beck said he wasn’t sure which players were responsible for the turnovers, but clarified that he was not to blame.
“I live to see another day,” Beck joked.
The terms “effort” and “intensity” were used frequently for a second-straight post-practice media availability session, this time coming from Beck and senior linebacker Breckyn Hager. After last season, though, Beck knows that those two things aren’t enough.
“We’ve got the effort and intensity down, but that only wins so many ball games,” Beck said.
Here are more highlights:
Beck: It feels a lot more like practices 16 and 17
After day one of preseason camp, head coach Tom Herman said he thinks the team carried momentum into the monthlong camp. According to him, though, the momentum wasn’t created after the Longhorns’ Texas Bowl victory.
“That feels like it was seven years ago,” Herman said. “The momentum was created in the offseason in how hard our guys worked and how much we developed, how much our veterans developed as leaders. There is a quiet confidence that we understand we don’t need be concerned about what the public or media thinks of us right now.”
Herman isn’t the only one believing in the offseason momentum. Texas just wrapped up day two, but according to Beck, preseason camp already feels like it’s been going on for longer.
“We talked about it as players yesterday,” Beck said. “One thing that is exciting to see is even with the new guys coming in, it feels a lot more like practice 16 and 17 instead of practices one and two.”
Hager discusses standout freshmen, expectations
The hype surrounding the freshman class is palpable. The players, coaches and even fans know it. Now that the rest of the roster has gotten a glimpse of the new faces, the freshmen have an opportunity to impress, including 6-foot-3-inch, 225-pound wide receiver Brennan Eagles.
“Brennan Eagles, I don’t even know if he’s a freshman,” Hager said. “He’s doing well. I’m impressed with Eagles.”
Hager also mentioned freshmen defensive backs B.J. Foster and Caden Sterns, who will battle for playing time under defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.
Orlando has earned the respect from just about everybody in the city of Austin, but even with a defensive mastermind calling the shots, questions have surfaced from outside of the program after the departures of Poona Ford, Malik Jefferson, DeShon Elliott and Holton Hill.
For the team, though, it’s business as usual. Hager said expectations haven’t shifted in the slightest.
“It’s always the same expectations,” Hager said. “The expectation is a championship. It’s always been a championship. There’s no difference between this year and last year in terms of what their expectations are, what our expectations are. It’s just, this year, we’re having a lot more fun doing it.”
Sophomore running back Toneil Carter was carted off the field, but it was later confirmed that he was just battling leg cramps. Texas will continue practice in day three of preseason camp Sunday morning.
