Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian is switching up his game plan for the upcoming scrimmage on Saturday, August 22. Quarterback Arch Manning and the rest of the first-team starters are getting a much heavier workload as the team dials in for their September 5 season opener against Texas State.

The sense of urgency in Austin isn’t just about beating Texas State. It’s about living up to massive national expectations. Picked second in the SEC preseason media poll behind only Georgia, the Longhorns enter 2026 as legit College Football Playoff contenders. With Manning taking the reins full-time, Texas can’t afford a slow start if they plan on marching back to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta.

Sarkisian described Manning’s performance in the first scrimmage as an “up and down” effort. That was largely by design, as the coaching staff deliberately limited Manning’s snaps to mimic a brief NFL preseason outing rather than a full, continuous game. While that setup gave backups valuable playing time, it kept the main offense from ever really warming up.

“We got to get this group ready to go come Sept. 5,” Sarkisian said, as reported by Texas beat writer Tyler Horka.

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The upcoming scrimmage will throw the starters into sustained, uninterrupted drives. That extended field time gives Manning a real chance to build chemistry with top targets like Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo while testing them against new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s aggressive unit. The Longhorns are also counting on this heavy workload to settle their starting offensive line before real games begin.

Manning played the first series, sat for approximately 30 minutes, played a red-zone series, sat again, and did not return until the second half, which Sarkisian acknowledged to be unfair to him.

“[It] probably wasn’t as fair to him today,” Sarkisian said, according to Noah Gross of Kxan Sports. “I wanted them to almost feel like a preseason NFL game. Blame Coach [Sarkisian] for not being quite as fair to him, where it was one series and then sit for 30 minutes, and then one series and sit again.” 

Even with the spotty snaps, Sarkisian saw flashes of elite play that highlighted Manning’s camp growth. Still, the head coach is raising the standard for Saturday’s action. He noted that while high-level plays are happening, the goal now is precision, execution, and down-to-down consistency.

“I think he can play cleaner than he played today, and a little bit more efficient, a little bit more accurate,” Sarkisian said. “But there was also some high-level plays that were made too. Again, it’s the level of consistency that we’re fighting for, and I’ve seen it the first week and a half.”

While those early experiments helped coaches evaluate secondary talent, the experiment time is over. With kickoff just around the corner, Texas needs its primary offense executing as one cohesive machine.

In the rhythm of college football fall camp, late August is crunch time. The second scrimmage is universally seen as the final “dress rehearsal” before coaches trim live contact to protect key starters from injury.

By the time game week arrives, reps are spent strictly on game-planning for the opponent rather than fixing internal execution. If Manning and his receivers don’t click on Saturday, those timing issues will carry straight into Week 1.

Texas Looks to Regain Camp Rhythm Ahead of 2026 Season

The Texas Longhorns head coach got his first extended look at the team during fall camp, with several players sidelined in the first scrimmage on August 15. Despite a flu bug sidelining key contributors, the session offered an early glimpse at Texas progress on both sides of the ball heading into the 2026 season.

“We kind of got a little bit of a flu bug in our team here heading into the scrimmage this weekend,” Sarkisian said, according to Noah Gross of Kxan Sports. “So we had some guys out that weren’t able to go.”

Linebackers Rasheem Biles, Ty’ Anthony Smith, and Brad Spence, defensive lineman Justus Terry, cornerback John Meredith III, and wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon missed the first scrimmage after a flu bug hit the team.

Smith’s absence is notable as he competes with transfer linebacker Justin Cryer for the starting MIKE role after missing spring practice due to shoulder surgery.

“Now we need to be better next Saturday, and I just told the team that individually we’ve all got to take a step forward,” Sarkisian said, according to Burnt Orange Nation. “We’ve all got to continue to improve so that we can get better as a team, because we’re not a finished product, but I do think for a week and a half into training camp, today served as a good kind of barometer for where we’re at, where our weaknesses are, where we need to improve, where our strengths are that we can lean into.

With no injuries reported in the group, the Texans hope to return to practice soon and get back up to speed during the next stretch of fall camp.