The Good and Not So Good From Day 1 of Texas Longhorns Fall Camp

The Texas Longhorns opened up fall camp in Austin on Wednesday, signaling the end of the offseason as final preparations for the 2026 campaign begin.

Of course, not everything is going to be perfect practice in and practice out, especially on the first day of fall camp, something that Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian talked about.

Here are some of the positives and negatives from the day.

The Good

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian reacts during the first half against the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl. | USA TODAY Sports

Overall team health

The Longhorns are looking very healthy across the board, with Sarkisian not delivering any notable injury news or updates regarding prior ailments or new ones.

The Texas players will no doubt pick up some bumps and bruises during camp but all signs point to a great bill of health for the Longhorns headed into the season.

Rasheem Biles

Biles looks every bit the part physically after a full summer of workouts under Torre Becton. But he also continues to impress Sarkisian, who told the media that Biles made a play 40 yards down the field in pass coverage during the closed live-action portion of the practice.

"He's versatile. He can rush the passer. He's really good in pass coverage," Sarkisian said of Biles. "He made a great play in pass coverage today, about 40 yards downfield. So that versatility is huge."

Arch Manning

After being limited a bit during spring as a precaution, Manning is back in full for fall camp and looked like a true leader and star quarterback during Day 1.

From leading the end of stretches with a "H-O-R-N-S" chant to being willing to do the dirty work during ball security drills, Manning continues to show off the leadership that a young team like this needs.

According to Sarkisian, Manning "had a good day" of practice.

The Not So Good

MJ Morris

Morris had a few struggles in drills during the 20-minute media viewing window.

He fumbled a snap on a handoff and had a few inaccurate passes toward his receivers. In his defense, this was only a small portion of the practice but he will need to prove that he's worthy of the QB3 spot over true freshman Dia Bell over the next few weeks.

Otherwise, it could be tough for him to see the field at any point this upcoming season.

Freshman Moments

Texas cornerback John Meredith III is clearly still adjusting to practicing at college-level intensity under the scorching heat after only just joining the team last month. He was hunched over at one point and had to go off into the shade with strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton.

Once Meredith is in SEC-level shape, there's little doubt he will be an impact player, but it will take time to adjust. After all, he's supposed to be headed into his senior year of high school.

Still No Update on Cole Hutson

The Longhorns certainly wouldn't mind some added depth to their offensive line with the potential addition of Cole Hutson following the recent NCAA court injunction.

However, Sarkisian said that he doesn't have an update on where things stand with Hutson's potential return to Texas for another season.

"I don't really have much of an update yet," Sarkisian said. "I think we'll find out more about Cole here probably within the next week or so. I think there's some positive signs to to that thing coming to fruition, but we'll see what happens."

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