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AUSTIN – If you’re a Texas Longhorn there are two sure-fire ways to get yourself in a bind and find yourself on Tom Herman’s naughty list.

One is to do anything other than sprint from one point to the other on the practice field. The other is to exhibit poor ball security.

The latter is what got Shane Buechele in hot water during Herman’s first spring practice with the Longhorns on Tuesday.

As a sign of showing there’s no preferential treatment being given to anyone in the program, Herman said following Tuesday’s session that the offensive staff ripped into Buechele for being careless with the football. The sophomore quarterback who threw for 2,958 yards and 21 touchdowns as a true freshman, “got disciplined as hard as anybody got disciplined,” during the first of 15 spring practices, according to the head coach.

“He was loose with the football and every single offensive coach undressed him,” Herman said. “Did up-downs and the whole nine. I’m not sure that’s the way things have been done around here before.”

Herman reiterated on Tuesday what he said during his Monday press conference about why he and his staff demand the two things they ask be done at all times.

If a player runs the wrong route, blitzes the wrong gap or misses a block, those mistakes can be corrected and remedied. Effort and protecting the football are two things every player on the roster can control at all times, regardless of skill level.

The Longhorns are taking ball security so seriously that skill position players carry a ball with them throughout the stretch period. Coaches patrol the field and try to poke the ball out of the ball carrier’s hands with padded sticks.

Should a coach catch a player loafing or see a ball being carelessly handled, as Buechele found out, you’ll be called out in front of your teammates. As Herman has said numerous times since arriving in Austin, there are no secrets in the Longhorn family and he wants everyone on the field to know who’s the culprit not pulling their own weight.

“If you loaf on the football field in between snap to whistle, it’s really bad in front of your teammates,” Herman said. “If you’re loose with the football in between snap and whistle, it can be really bad. Those are the two demands of this program.”

Herman and the staff weren’t singling Buechele out or picking on him. Getting onto the starting quarterback sent a strong message right out of the gate that no one Longhorn is beyond reproach in the eyes of the coaching staff while the culture of the program is getting established.

“It’s pretty good for the Average Joe to know that with this coaching staff there are no favorites, there is no teacher’s pet,” Herman said. "There's no doghouse either."

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