Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian opened his first weekly local media Zoom session of the regular season Thursday with some typical coaches’ concerns.

What surprising challenges will Colorado State present Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium? How will his defense hold up against a dynamic passing attack? And what new players will shine in their first game before 100,000 burnt-orange faithful?

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Here are five takeaways from Sarkisian before the Longhorns open the 2024 season:

Tory Horton is a legitimate NFL player

The 6-foot-3 Horton has 167 catches, 2,267 yards receiving and 16 touchdowns over the past two seasons. More important, he sets the tone for a Colorado State offense that ranked No. 9 nationally a year ago by averaging 306.5 yards passing.

“They have an elite receiver, and knowing where he is is critical,” Sarkisian said. “A lot of their offense kind of starts with him, and if the quarterback's got a favorable matchup, you can almost guarantee that's where the ball is going to go.”

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Helmet radios are overrated

For the first time, college football allows the use of helmet radios to reduce sideline signals and help coaches communicate with players. Quarterback Quinn Ewers will wear the helmet on offense while middle linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. will have the radio on defense.

But Sarkisian, who spent two years coaching with helmet radios in the NFL, thinks the impact of the new system has been overrated.

“I think you guys are making way too big of a deal over this thing,” he said. “I know everybody wants to make a big deal out of the communication thing, and understandably so, because it's new, (but) I don't know if you're going to see a whole lot of a difference in the game. It’s just a little easier way to communicate. And I don't think it's going to be some earth-shattering advantage of one side of the ball or the other, from a strategic standpoint.”

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Sarkisian excited to see new players in action

The Longhorns have several highly touted freshmen such as receiver Ryan Wingo and edge rusher Colin Simmons who are likely to see lots of snaps. They also have some transfer players from smaller programs — former UTSA edge Trey Moore — who have never played in a stadium the size of DKR. They’ll also have plenty of players stepping into larger roles. Sarkisian says he’s eager to learn some valuable lessons about his team, especially in a season that can now stretch into late January because of the expanded playoff.

"Some guys practice really well, they prepare really well, and they play really well,” he said. “That's the ideal formula for success, in our book. You have other guys that can prepare really well, practice really well, and then don't perform well and maybe make some uncharacteristic mistakes in games. And then you have the other player that maybe isn't practicing great, but then you put them on the field, and he plays pretty good.

"So we're always trying to learn our players that way. And we have a lot of new players that we don't have all of that information on yet, and that's what games are for.”

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Limit the big plays, improve the pass defense

Yes, Texas ranked 116th in passing yards allowed last season (254.4 per game). But Sarkisian is quick to point out that few defenses faced as many pass attempts as the Longhorns, which accounts for a big chunk of that lofty number. Still, the pass-happy Rams will offer a stern test, especially when it comes to making big plays.

“Our key in the secondary is we’ve got to eliminate the explosive plays,” Sarkisian said. “When you look at our two losses last year (Oklahoma and Washington), that was the area in the passing game that really hurt us.

Will we see backup QBs Arch Manning or Trey Owens?

You’ll never squeeze that information out of Sarkisian, but he says both have impressed during summer workouts. Manning, the nation’s top quarterback recruit in 2023 and the heir apparent in football’s first family, redshirted last season but moved into the No. 2 role behind Ewers after Maalik Murphy transferred to Duke. Owens was a four-star recruit in the 2024 class from Houston Cypress-Fairbanks and is likely to redshirt as the No. 3 quarterback.

“I would say for Arch, he’s light-years ahead of where he was last year,” Sarkisian said. “His understanding of what we're trying to do offensively, the nuances of the scheme, the timing of certain throws, the protections, all those things. And I just think his overall comfort level and confidence is much higher than it was a year ago at this time. I’m very comfortable that if Arch goes in the game, he'll go in and operate at a high level.

“I've been impressed with Trey. He’s a true freshman, and there's days when I'm sure he's like, can I just get Coach Sark and (quarterbacks coach AJ) Milwee off my back? And there's other days where he does some great stuff, but that's a little bit of the life of a first-year quarterback in our system.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Arch Manning 'light-years' ahead in improvement, Texas coach says