AUSTIN, Texas — The start of spring football is the first day to see how coaches are viewing next year’s way-too-early depth chart, how players’ bodies are changing, what the first goals and priorities are, and, quite frankly, who is on the field and who isn’t.

We learned Monday receiver Devin Duvernay isn’t likely to start going through spring football until after spring break because these really cool shorts full of sensors worn by Texas' skill guys detected a deficiency in how some of his explosion muscles (glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors) were firing, which led to an MRI that revealed a “stress reaction in his pubic bone.”

Receiver John Burt, the Big 12 60-meter indoor hurdles champion, is focusing on track this spring and is expected back with the football team for fall camp.

We learned behemoth offensive guard Patrick Hudson, one of the jewel defections from Baylor after the scandal surrounding the dismissal of Art Briles, has officially retired from football and will now serve as a volunteer in player development and assist UT trainers.

In somewhat alarming news, we learned redshirt freshman nose tackle Keondre Coburn is awaiting test results before being medically cleared for a second “kidney issue” in the past seven months signaled by intense back pain.

“There have been blood tests and a piece of muscle has been biopsied,” Herman said of Coburn. “The prognosis is good, because he played for us after the first issue. But it’s a concern to have two of these episodes in the past seven months.”

We learned Herman’s top priorities for the spring are:

— Developing leadership, especially on defense

— Settling on the starting five on the offensive line

— Finding ways to get the ball to an explosive group of playmakers

— Settling on a new front seven on defense

We learned Tope Imade, who lined up at first-team left guard on Monday, weighs 340 pounds with only 15 percent body fat and that Denzel Okafor, who lined up at first-team right tackle, is an impressive 320 pounds.

Likely starting left tackle Sam Cosmi is up to 295 pounds from 280 at the Sugar Bowl.

The first-day, first-team offensive line was: LT Cosmi, LG Imade, C Zach Shackelford, RG Derek Kerstetter and RT Okafor. The second-team OL was: LT Reese Moore, LG Junior Angilau, C Rafiti Ghirmai, RG J.P. Urquidez, RT Christian Jones.

Defensive end Marqez Bimage, the most explosive player on the team (700-pound squat) coming out of summer conditioning last season before a shoulder injury cut his 2018 short, is up to 270 pounds.

We learned Herman likes the work ethic of his 10 early enrollee freshmen.

When asked specifically about Bru McCoy, Herman said McCoy’s versatility is such he’ll work at the X, H (slot) and Z receiver positions.

“Great kid who also happens to be a five-star athlete,” Herman said of McCoy, whose eligibility waiver has yet to be submitted by Texas as UT officials wait for the rulings on a few other high-profile transfer waivers before sending off McCoy’s.

We learned Herman didn’t have any history with former North Carolina coach Larry Fedora before Fedora visited six weeks ago, the two hit it off and Herman hired Fedora as an analyst.

Herman is excited for the input of Fedora and new UT analysts Andre Coleman (the former OC at Kansas State) and Paul Williams (a former defensive coach at Houston) during the season when it comes to game-planning and advance scouting.

Former Longhorn defensive back Nathan Vasher is now working as a volunteer coach.

Thank heavens, we learned B.J. Foster is “locked into” a position battle at nickel with Josh Thompson, according to Herman when asked if safety Brandon Jones could see time at nickel. (Foster is special, and playing him at nickel is a total game-changer for next year’s defense in my humble opinion).

We learned Herman thinks safety and receiver are going to be the Longhorns' cage match of position battles.

“Much like receiver, safety is going to be a battle, because you only have three positions (sometimes four when we’re in a our Lightning stuff),” Herman said.

“But there’s some really good players who might merit a rotation of some sort. But usually with defensive players, you like to keep them on the field for most series. The same is going to be true at receiver. There’s going to be some really talented guys duking it out.”

When asked about players who’ve done the best job reshaping their bodies since the end of last season, Herman listed the following players off the top of his head in order: Joseph Ossai, Daniel Carson, Jalen Green, Anthony Cook, Tope Imade, Reese Moore, Junior Angilau, Christian Jones, Sam Cosmi and Derek Kerstetter.

We learned Herman isn’t talking about winning the Big 12 as the team’s primary goal at this point.

“We’re focused on going 1-0 today and going 1-0 tomorrow,” Herman said.

Perhaps, most importantly, we learned Herman feels good about where his program’s culture is heading into Year 3.

“It’s really cool when you have an established culture in your program,” Herman said.

“The young guys get immersed in it, and there’s nowhere to hide. You either love football and love to work or you’re going to figure it out real quick. It’s been nice to see the young guys assimilate as quickly as they have.”