Longhorns football Orange-White spring game preview

Posted: Apr 22, 2022 / 05:44 PM CDT

Updated: Apr 23, 2022 / 06:29 PM CDT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas fans are set to get their first chance to see the Longhorns take the gridiron this Saturday since the disappointing 5-7 campaign in the fall of 2021. The 2022 Texas Spring Game will start at 6:30 p.m. at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium.

It is year two for Steve Sarkisian at the helm of the Longhorns. He told reporters Tuesday that due to a lack of offensive line depth, the Orange-White game won’t look like a traditional spring game. Instead, it will be more a of a “100-play scrimmage.”

“I wish nobody would show up with a camera, and you guys wouldn’t have your phones, and we wouldn’t put it on TV, so that we could really show a lot of things that we’re doing,” said Sarkisian. “But in this day and age everybody wants to watch and see what we’re going to do, so we’ll probably be pretty vanilla Saturday night.”

There will be no score kept in the spring game, and it will feature a red zone competition at the end. The Longhorns’ star running back Bijan Robinson will be limited Saturday because of an ankle injury.

As far as quarterbacks, the team has kept the competition between Hudson Card and Quinn Ewers close to the vest. Card is entering his second season under Sarkisian while the transfer Ewers is yet to throw a pass in college.

“Some of the game management things come really natural to him,” Sarkisian said about Card. “Just having been doing it with us. I think Quinn is a very quick study, you know. There’s things that come to him that are new or a situational thing that comes to him that is new, but he really takes the coaching and tries to apply it the next time out.”

With a lot of turnover from last year’s team, fans will have a number of things to watch for Saturday night. One of the biggest additions to the Longhorns this offseason has not been a player but a special assistant in Gary Patterson.

The longtime head coach of TCU heads to Austin in hopes of helping out the defensive side of the ball. Texas allowed over 30 points in each of the showdowns during their five-game losing streak last season.

“Our run defense has been really good all spring,” said Sarkisian. “And there’s some pretty good runners we got to try to stop. The last three of four practices, I thought our pass rush has really improved… I think Justice Finkley has really come on the last about week.”