Breckyn Hager is still sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Deshon Elliott is still out. Given the snaps he's missed and Colbert playing better football, the coaches should consider redshirting him if he can't go in the next week or two.

Dalton Santos is hobbled. Hasn't been able to practice for a while and won't be a factor in the early part of the season barring a miraculous recovery. We'll start two freshmen linebackers in South Bend.

Jinkens continues to run with Jefferson as a starter in the nickel. He's been getting solid reviews for better physicality, but I'm still skeptical about Jinkens until I see it during live action. Coaching and scheme matters and this may be the year it connects for Peter. I also think we may just blitz our LBs 70% of the time, which will have positives and negatives. I get into it a bit more in our Longhorn preview e-book.

TE Blake Whiteley is gone for the season. He was running behind McNeal, Beck and De La Torre at TE/H-back.

DT Alex Norman continues an injury-filled career at Texas. He's nicked up and has been held out recently. We're good at DT if Ridgeway and Jackson are fully recovered with Ford and Boyette spelling them, but it would be nice to see what Norman could do with a healthy stretch of play.

The freshman DBs have Bedford, Vaughn and Strong excited. They're as athletic as advertised and they're fearless. They just need experience and to learn the coverages. Strong actually remarked in his press conference that he was teasing Holton Hill (now recovered from injury and practicing) about being too skinny - was he 175? Hill weighed for Strong. 197. He just carries it well and his limbs are so long it makes him appear skinnier than he is. Kris Boyd "doesn't know anything" but can cover off of pure athletic ability.

The staff has been mixing up hard days and easy days. Full contact scrimmages where they run 150+ plays and big hitting days are followed by light work in helmets and shorts. Despite their tough image, they're being prudent about keeping key experienced guys healthy and distributing snaps to younger players.

**

That's it. If you're looking for the big picture: Jump in. The water is fine.