Arch Manning makes a few tosses, WRs stand out at Texas' last spring practice | Golden

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How much did Arch participate?

We already knew what Manning could do long before this open practice, so this spring was never about him since he spent most of these last few weeks recovering from minor offseason foot surgery. He tossed a few passes during drills at the beginning of the two-hour showing but once scrimmaging began, he gave way to backups KJ Lacey and MJ Morris.

How did the newcomers fare?

This was the first public glimpse of running backs Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers and while both showed some nice wiggle, we didn't see many chunk plays in the run game. Sarkisian schemed to bring in more explosive runners on an offense that saw it's national rushing rank drop from 71st to 90th over the last two seasons. The aforementioned Bishop and McCutcheon had their moments. They'll play behind Coleman and Wingo, who could form the most explosion pass-catching duo in the country and the best at Texas since Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby back in 2008. Coleman is a wiry type who has pogo stick legs that give him the ability to high point contested passes. We won’t see this offense at full strength until the fall but it should be well worth the wait.

Emerging talent at tight end

The fan base had hoped tight end Jack Endries would return for one more season but the former Cal standout decided to enter the NFL draft. The competition is wide open veteran Spencer Shannon is back for Year 3 having added 45 pounds to his frame. Now a sturdy 265 pounds, he will be an obvious factor in the run game as Sark often deploys tight ends as blocking backs but he turned some heads with a nice 15-yard catch and run, including a broken tackle.

The big boys up front

Defensive line coach Kenny Baker goes into the fall knowing he has some experience up front, especially in the interior where Hero Kanu is the most accomplished starter returning, though Baker told him in a offseason heart to heart that he can’t rest on what he did in 2025. Juniors Maraad Watson and Alex January have plenty of reps on their resume’ but it's the time to take that important next step in their development. Longhorn alumni like T’Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy II and Alfred Collins made huge jumps over their last couple of seasons at tackles and are having some nice NFL careers. Keep an eye on freshman edge rusher Richard Wesley, who showed a nice first step on more than one occasion. It will be an interesting battle on the side opposite Simmons.

What it all means

Numerous position battles that will take place between now and the opener. A final big scrimmage, while grossly overcooked at times, is a nice tool that allows coaches to get a bead on how newcomers react to the closest thing to live action in the offseason. The Horns have plenty of talent but it's the ones we don't really know about that could mean the difference between a good season and a great one. For now, we wait.