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Red flag or not: What to make of Texas football fall camp news thus far

We are less than a month from the 2022 college football season, and fall camp is in full swing. With anticipation building, it is easy for fans to latch on to any finding and make it more of a story than necessary.

Of the many potential stories that could be blown out of proportion, depth chart positioning is toward the top of the list.

For those new to college football training camp specifics like myself, freshmen players are generally asked to earn their way up the depth chart from the bottom. For that reason, you could see Day 1 starters have to earn their way up from third or fourth string.

Clearly, there is not always significance attached to training camp practices, but some news can be reason for alarm. Let’s take a look at what findings should and should not cause concern for Texas right now.

Uncertainty at kicker

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Red Flag.

The kicker position has been an afterthought for Texas the last four years. Some might say the Longhorns took Cameron Dicker’s ability for granted. Uncertainty at punter is not alarming to me, as the version of the 2022 Longhorns that punts often will probably lose a handful of games. But a Texas team that cannot send a kicker in for a 40-yard game winner with confidence could definitely see their win total drop by two games.

Byron Murphy, Alfred Collins and T'Vondre Sweat not starting as first team

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Not a Red Flag.

The trio mentioned above could all conceivably start in a 3-3-5 front. Truthfully, it might be the best defense Texas could run out. However, Keondre Coburn figures to be an excellent gap eater. There’s a reason they call him, “Snacks.” Coburn is potentially capable of shutting down both A gaps, and could be a great run defender for Texas. Questions on Coburn mostly arise in the passing game.

High use of 2-4-5 defense

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Red Flag.

Pete Kwiatkowski knows football better than I do, but I am skeptical that should Texas run out the 2-4-5 as its base defense for this season. For starters, if you don’t have an elite edge rusher, you don’t have an edge rusher.

Add to that, if your edge player cannot get to the quarterback OR funnel the running game inside, we are wasting a defensive spot. Kwiatkowski may be better served with a three-man front shutting down runs between the tackles. The linebackers’ tendency to overplay runs to the outside may be further reason to give help on the inside and allow them to scrape edge runs.

Texas’ strong defensive tackle depth lends itself to three-man fronts.

If position battles run long

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Red Flag.While it is important to let position battles play out, competitions that run too long could make early matchups difficult. Certainly, Steve Sarkisian wants to get the quarterback situation right the first time this year. Albeit, the longer Texas takes to decide its starting quarterback, the less reps the starter will receive for the Alabama game. If the battle lingers, Texas could make that Week 2 bout more and more difficult with every day of lost reps.

If individual freshmen don't win starting jobs

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Not a Red Flag.

Conceivably, multiple freshmen could win starting spots, but it does not mean the offensive line will be poor if they do not start. Should Andrej Karic, Hayden Conner, Jake Majors and Christian Jones earn the right to start next to Junior Angilau, it could mean they grew significantly since last season. If that is the case, Kyle Flood deserves plenty of credit for moving the unit in a positive direction.

Story originally appeared on Longhorns Wire