Steve Sarkisian Previews Texas Football's Preseason Scrimmage

The Texas Longhorns are entering the final stages of the offseason.

Texas Longhorns hey football coach, Steve Sarkisian during the first day with pads in fall football camp practice for the Texas Longhorns at Denius Fields on Monday, August 5, 2024. | Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

AUSTIN -- Texas Longhorns football will have a preseason scrimmage Saturday that will give Steve Sarkisian and the coaching staff another solid look at how things are coming together across the roster as the season approaches.

When speaking to the media Thursday, Sarkisian shared some of his thoughts on the upcoming scrimmage and what he's looking for his team to accomplish in the process.

"It's a fun one for us because everybody plays Saturday," Sarkisian said. "All these guys have been practicing their tails off we've been two-spotting everything, we're four-deep. We're gonna ones twos, threes and fours so again, it's gonna be a great opportunity for guys to play. What I want to see is what do they know? Again, the coaches aren't on the field, everybody's off. They have to get the call. They have to communicate the call. They have to work together. How do they play when they get a little bit fatigued? So again, it's not going to be so much of a test of maybe the (starters). The installation is what it is, but I want to learn about our twos and threes and even some fours of how they respond and playing and DKR in the scrimmage-type setting."

While starters like Quinn Ewers, Kelvin Banks, Anthony Hill Jr., David Gbenda, Ethan Burke and Jake Majors don't exactly have too much else to prove three weeks before the season, the scrimmage will allow newcomers at receiver like Isaiah Bond, Matthew Golden and Silas Bolden to continue to test their knowledge of the offense in a live-game setting while defensive additions like Jay'Vion Cole, Andrew Mukuba and Trey Moore do the same on the other side.

Jaydon Blue is set to be the starter out of the backfield after CJ Baxter's season-ending injury, but the attention Saturday should be on the performances of backups Tre Wisner, Jerrick Gibson and Christian Clark, as all three could play an important depth role this season due to the circumstances. Wisner is the expected backup, but Clark and Gibson could be in for a key position battle as the RB3 on the depth chart.

The Longhorns will be hoping to avoid any further injuries and instead use Saturday's scrimmage as one of the final big learning lessons of the offseason before the season opener against Colorado State on Saturday, Aug. 31.