Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian reveals new starter as opener against Rice approaches

Fans and the curious folks in the media may not know what Texas players take the field with the other starters until nearly kickoff Saturday, but head coach Steve Sarkisian did reveal some interesting tidbits from his weekly Thursday meeting with reporters.

Here are five takeaways from Sarkisian before the Longhorns’ season-opener against Rice at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday:

Depth chart still a mystery, but positions to watch

Spots to settle: Unlike many coaches, Sarkisian doesn’t release a depth chart in the days prior to the kickoff. “Yeah, we have a depth chart, (and) I'm sure you guys will have it by kickoff on Saturday,” he said. Sarkisian did cite the running back, the secondary and the receiver spots behind the front-line rotation of Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell and Jordan Whittington as positions to watch.

“There's things to monitor as we go,” Sarkisian said. And when it came time to discuss if either true freshman Arch Manning or redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy would see action behind starting quarterback Quinn Ewers, Sarkisian played it coy. “We’ll find out,” he said.

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DJ Campbell gets starting nod at guard

A change up front: Sarkisian did say sophomore DJ Campbell will start at right guard in place of incumbent Cole Hutson. The 6-foot-3, 345-pound Campbell, a former five-star recruit, played in seven games last season. Hutson, a fellow sophomore, started all 13 games in 2022. Sarkisian said both will see extensive snaps.

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True freshmen could see lots of action

New faces should get in: Multiple true freshmen will see action Saturday, Sarkisian said, and ”they’ll be out there relatively early in the ball game.” Sarkisian said that group includes running back CJ Baxter, cornerback Malik Muhammad, linebacker Anthony Hill, safety Derek Williams, edge Liona Lefau, receiver Johntay Cook II and receiver DeAndre Moore.

Baxter seems to be pushing Jonathon Brooks for the starting spot in the backfield while the others will likely see action in reserve roles.

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Rice offense, new Owls QB draw praise

Sark on JT Daniels: Rice coach Mike Bloomgren prefers to run a pro-style offense that relies heavily on the quarterback, and Sarkisian said new Owls quarterback JT Daniels “is a perfect fit” for their attack.

Daniels, playing for his fourth school following USC, Georgia and West Virginia, joined Rice in the offseason and brings a wealth of experience, with career totals of 6,947 yards and 45 touchdowns passing.

“This is a veteran (Rice) team with a veteran coaching staff,” Sarkisian said. “Got a lot of respect for coach Bloomgren and his staff. Knowing how they want to run their offense (with) all of the audibles and things that they do at the line of scrimmage, I think JT is a great fit for them. He can make all the throws and fits their style with the run game, and the play-action pass really fits him. I think it's a good marriage for JT, and it will present a lot of challenges for us.”

Heat check at top of Sark’s mind

Temperature adjustments: Sarkisian has cited his team’s depth all offseason, and he says Saturday’s weather will provide a stern test. Temperatures are expected to be above 100 degrees for virtually the entire game, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m. That means plenty of Longhorns will see action as the team tries to keep its players fresh.

“I'd love to tell you we're going to play in 75-degree weather in perfect condition Saturday,” Sarkisian said. “It's not; it's going to be warm. And so we just have to monitor it. I think at a lot of the positions we're going to roll a pretty fair amount of our two-deep lineup.”

Which, as Sarkisian said, everyone will see right before kickoff.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian talks starters, heat before opener