Texas drops spring game in favor of NFL-style OTAs

Another trend upending some college football tradition appears to be gaining momentum, as Texas joins the list of programs dropping the annual spring game.

Texas is saying farewell to the annual spring football game. / Sara Diggins/Imagn Images via American-Statesman

Texas appears to have joined a growing list of prominent college football programs by dropping the annual spring game in favor of a restructured practice period.

Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed the decision, citing the new landscape around college football and his team’s increased workload from the previous season for the new approach.

.@CoachSark announces that @TexasFootball won't be having a Spring game this year 🚨@heykayadams | #HookEm pic.twitter.com/KzONTjxYiQ

— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) February 20, 2025

“I just don’t know if rolling the ball out, playing the game, when we only get 15 practices, is the best for us to maximize the opportunities that we get,” Sarkisian said on the “Up and Adams Show.”

“So it’s going to be a little bit of a different approach, but I think college football’s changing right now and we need to do a great job, as coaches, of adapting to college football, and that’s what we’re trying to do. I think it’s going to be good for our team.”

This isn’t the first we’ve heard about college football programs considering doing away with the spring football exhibitions in the transfer portal era.

Some coaches are concerned that they could be effectively giving other schools what amounts to a free try-out for players who could be poached away through the portal before the season begins.

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has all but confirmed his intention to cancel the spring game in favor of a closed format, citing a concern about tampering from rivals.

“I hate to say it like this... because last year we were one of the more televised spring games, and I dealt with a lot of people offering our players a lot of opportunities after that,” he said.

Rhule added: “To go out and bring in a bunch of new players and showcase them for all the other schools to watch, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

Sarkisian said that Texas will instead take after the NFL’s organized team activities period while moving towards a scrimmage format as the spring practice elapses.

Concerns about roster turnover also informed Sarkisian’s view on the matter.

“We’ve had 25 guys get invited to the NFL Combine the last two years, so we’ve got a lot of young players on our roster,” he said.

“We have 21 midyear high school kids that just showed up. The development that’s needed for these guys to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be.”

-

More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | Teams

Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Picks