The first game of the Texas Longhorns' football season won't take place until Aug. 31, but the sport was still played on the UT campus this past weekend.

Ranked fourth in the US LBM Top 25 Coaches Poll and in the Associated Press' preseason poll, Texas participated Saturday in a closed intrasquad scrimmage at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Two days later, UT coach Steve Sarkisian met with local reporters over Zoom to discuss the scrimmage and other football-related items.

In his opening statement, Sarkisian described the scrimmage as "highly competitive." There was some sloppiness and pre-snap penalties were committed, "but those things are fixable, and we'll get those fixed." Sarkisian noted that the UT coaches got a good feel for the team's receivers and defensive linemen out of Saturday's scrimmage.

Here are three things that stood out about Monday's media availability:

What is going on at running back?

Following last week's news that CJ Baxter would miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, Saturday's scrimmage gave Texas its first chance to examine what its rushing attack will look like without its presumed starting running back. A few days later, Sarkisian was pleased with how junior Jaydon Blue and sophomore Quintrevion Wisner looked in the scrimmage. Freshmen Christian Clark and Jerrick Gibson, however, went through some growing pains Saturday.

"I thought Jaydon played well. I thought Tre played well. Both those guys did a nice job," Sarkisian said. "I thought Christian and Jerrick got their introduction to college football a little bit. Both guys put the ball on the ground once, and that's part of it. Jaydon had to go up and remind them of his first scrimmage, and (CJ) had to remind him of his first scrimmage and what that's like. But they also did some really good things, too, and so they're definitely further down the road than maybe some would think."

Sarkisian said last week he wanted to get through the scrimmage before he thought about making a player switch positions in an effort to replenish the depth at running back. When Sarkisian was asked again about that topic Monday, the coach said, "we're looking at some different options, and I think we're looking at it creatively."

What does that mean? Multiple outlets reported over the weekend that second-year linebacker Derion Gullette got some reps at running back in the scrimmage, and while Sarkisian didn't mention Gullette on Monday, he did say there was a "potential player on the defensive side of the ball or two" that could move to the backfield. Sarkisian said Texas could also find a converted running back among a "couple of guys on the offensive side of the ball."

"We're kind of taking it day-by-day. We've got plenty of time," Sarkisian said. "We're just trying to get a sense and a feel of how not only will they play on offense at runner, but how does that impact us at other positions if we take a player."

On Monday evening, OnTexasFootball and Orangebloods both reported that Clark was injured during Monday's practice. Sarkisian did not mention any injury when speaking about Clark during his media availability.

Walk-ons Colin Page, Marshall Landwehr earn Sarkisian's praise

Another running back that has caught Sarkisian's eye over the weekend: Junior Colin Page. Sarkisian said Page "ran the ball well Saturday."

Page is a walk-on who joined the Longhorns after earning all-area accolades at Austin's Anderson High. The 6-foot, 210-pound Page rushed for over 1,700 yards during his senior year of high school.

When asked about walk-ons who had stood out in UT's fall camp, Sarkisian mentioned both Page and senior linebacker Marshall Landwehr. Sarkisian said both Page and Landwehr, who played at Highland Park High School, have been faring well on special teams.

Sarkisian focusing on more than just a starting line-up

There are 19 days to go until Texas opens its 2024 season with a home game against Colorado State. But who will start against the Rams? The coach was asked after Monday's practice if he knows who his 22 starters are.

Said Sarkisian: "I think the one thing for us is that we really need a top 44. Just the way the season is going to go, the length of the season, the extension of four nonconference games before we get to conference play. We're really looking at two-deep rather than just the one-deep and we're really trying to look at those group of guys on both sides of the ball as (if) they're all starters. Then there's guys that are going to have unique packages within that whether it's third down on defense or specific packages offensively. I would probably be minimizing it too much just to say 22 when in reality, we're really looking for 44."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian on position changes, RBs