Early Season Priorities That Were Revealed After Texas' First Day of Camp

The age-old adage, “Rome was not built in a day,” applies to the Texas Longhorns, who opened 2026 fall camp with a good mix of returners and welcomed newcomers with varying experience across the board.

The first day of camp is better than Christmas morning, and of course, there was a juice like no other on the practice field in Austin.

As per usual, day one can only reveal so much, and the expectations surrounding certain players, notably the freshman on the field, are still in that maturation phase. Regardless, head coach Steve Sarkisian is just glad to be back on the field.

“I think for us as a team, one thing we talk to the team about is getting back to the intent in which we need to practice and transition out of what we were into the summer to who we need to be in camp,” Sarkisian said. “I didn't expect us to be perfect… There were some bright spots. There were some rough spots.”

What Day One Revealed

Texas Football — The Texas Longhorns stretch before opening their first fall camp practice at the Frank Denius Fields in Austin, Texas, on August 5, 2026. The Longhorns enter the 2026 season ranked No. 4 in the preseason coaches' polls. | Nicholas Kingman, Texas Longhorns on SI

It was a hot day in Austin — a 97-degree temperature shone down when the Longhorns trotted out on the field around 2 p.m. today. Of course, that came with some cramps and other heat-related issues.

The newest member of Texas, joining the team just weeks ago and not going through spring or the brief summer ball period, John Meredith III had some struggles with the heat and the speed of the college level. The freshman defensive back had to go under the shade for a moment to gather himself.

“Competing at the level of which we're competing at is not easy to do,” Sarkisian said of Meredith III. “But he's working hard, and there's some positive. He's a competitive guy, that's for sure. So that showed up today.”

Texas CB John Meredith III appears to still be adjusting to the heat of summer workouts and college-level speed after just recently joining the team. It’s 98 degrees in Austin.

Was talking off to the side with Torre Becton after being hunched over a bit a few moments earlier. pic.twitter.com/bzWsIGdHNy
— Zach Dimmitt (@ZachDimmitt7) August 5, 2026

Overall, though, Sarkisian was satisfied with the Longhorns' conditioning on day one, stating off the top of his head that this was the lowest amount of cramps on day one.

“I think we had five. I can tell you, our first year here, I think we had 38. So that number has gone down every year,” Sarkisian said. “I think them understanding of kind of how our practices go helped them be in spring ball and now being back for training camp.”

It’s been well documented that Texas was one of the most penalized teams in all of college football last season. Far too many times, a positive play or series was hampered by a sloppy penalty disrupting any sense of establishing a flow.

It's a point of emphasis heading to this season, and already on day one of fall camp it was hard to miss. Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and various position coaches were loud and clear, quickly getting on players for making mistakes.

“Everybody's got to feel the effect of a penalty because that's what happens in a game. One guy doesn't get flagged, and he's the only foul. It's all of us,” Sarkisian said. “We all feel that, and so I think that in innately has helped, and I think across the ball a little bit the banter has helped.”

The Texas team is a deep group on all fronts, but a lot of the talent is raw. Many highly touted recruits who have been stifled for playing time are going to get their first true opportunities to show up here this month.

And for the schedule that faces the Longhorns, they’ll need even their depth pieces to be ready for a worst-case scenario. It's an all-hands-on-deck deal, no matter where someone is on the depth chart.

“We're going to need as many bodies as we can, and the goal is to be quality two deep at every spot. With hopefully you got a third guy that can play if he needs to,” Sarkisian said.

Currently, it's no-pads, light-contact work before Texas puts on the pads in a couple of days for the true start of training camp.

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