What's next for the Longhorns? Make sure you're in the loop by signing up for our FREE Texas newsletter!

In this edition of “Four Downs” I’m going to look at four things about the Texas Longhorns the burnt orange faithful might be overthinking. With 13 days remaining until Texas faces Notre Dame, this is the time of the year for angst and overanalysis, so I wanted to look at four things that make a lot of sense other than what they might appear to mean on the surface.

First Down: How the reps for the quarterbacks have been split in practice

From what our sources have told us Charlie Strong isn’t lying when he talks about how the reps have been distributed between Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes. If Buechele goes with the first group in pass hull, Swoopes gets the call in team and vice versa. There hasn’t been any indication that it’s anything other than a 50/50 split in reps with the two signal-callers trading off days in terms of who might get more work.

The worry resides in the fact that if Buechele is going to start, why does he need to split reps with Swoopes? Does Swoopes getting half the snaps mean he’s really in the mix to start?

The fact is the Longhorns have so many practice reps to go around that there’s enough for both Swoopes and Buechele, who have combined to play a grand total of zero games in this offense. That's important to note since it shouldn't be lost on anyone that the Longhorns would best be served by having multiple quarterbacks ready to step in and handle the offense.

For years a chief complaint among Longhorn observers has been the inability to adequately prepare the backup quarterback to play. Sterlin Gilbert is nipping that in the bud every time the quarterbacks hit the practice field.

Assuming Buechele wins the starting job there are still going to be plenty of times during the course of a game where he’ll be vulnerable. Strong even said earlier this summer that the one thing Buechele needed to work on was adding bulk and strength, something that’s not going to be done to a great extent over the next 13 days. Buechele’s size is clearly a concern for the staff, which means making sure Swoopes stays warm is of the utmost importance, especially with Jerrod Heard now lining up at wide receiver.

It’s almost a damned if you do, damned if you don’t proposition. If Buechele were getting all of the practice reps and got hurt during a game the staff would get hammered for not getting Swoopes any work. As it is there are plenty of folks scratching their heads wondering when the starter will get the majority of the reps, but for now the staff has a responsibility to the team to get both quarterbacks who’ve spent the same amount of time learning the new system ready for game action.

Second Down: The offensive line reportedly had a bad second scrimmage

The word we got wasn’t too flattering regarding how the offensive line looked at times during Saturday's scrimmage. That shouldn’t come as that much of a shock if you really look at the situation up front.

Zach Shackelford being out and the combination of Brandon Hodges and Denzel Okafor, who have appeared in a combined zero FBS games, at right tackle is a line that should be viewed as a work in progress. While everybody expects the Longhorns to make drastic strides toward being one of the better lines in the Big 12 by the end of the year, this is a line that’s still relatively inexperienced.

Kent Perkins has 24 career starts to his name. Patrick Vahe and Connor Williams have 22 combined starts in their one season together on campus with the currently-injured Tristan Nickelson having started three games in his brief career. That's a line that’s still got a lot of maturing and growing up to do together before it hits the ceiling many people, myself included, think the group is capable of reaching.

My expectation for the line is that by the end of the year, if this group can be viewed as being one of the top three or four lines in the Big 12 then it will be a successful season. Even though the pieces are talented, when you’re slated to start a true freshman, two true sophomores and a junior with only one FBS season under his belt, it’s going to take time for everything to come together. That's especially true when two of those pieces (Nickelson and Shackleford) are currently unable to practice.

Until Matt Mattox has all of the kinks ironed out in his first year on the job, it’s not a bad thing if the results are a mixed bag.

In the zero-sum game of an intrasquad scrimmage both lines are going to have times where they get the better of the other side. That’s reflective of what should be the case for the offensive line early in the season until they hit their groove and start to take off, which should happen at some point during the 2016 season.

Third Down: What positions the linebackers are working

Why do the coaches insist on keeping Malik Jefferson at the MIKE linebacker spot? Isn’t Anthony Wheeler better suited for that role? Should Erick Fowler have started off at Fox end instead of inside linebacker?

Those questions regarding the linebacker position, one of the most talent-rich groups on the roster, will be sorted out in due time.

One of the questions I’ve been asked most often in the offseason has been about how the Longhorns can best maximize the personnel available. It’s worth noting that on about 85-90 percent of the defensive snaps this season the Longhorns will be in nickel personnel, which means two true linebackers on the field (along with the Fox, who depending on where he lines up can make the defense a multiple front).

With that in mind, think back to 2014 and how the coaches used Jordan Hicks and Steve Edmond. There’s a chance that the Jefferson/Wheeler tandem can be more productive, but the beauty of both of those players is their skill sets are more in line with each other than that of Hicks and Edmond, who were in position to make plenty of plays regardless of where they lined up.

Edmond started 12 of 13 games at MIKE in 2014 (he missed the start of the Iowa State game with a knee injury) and Hicks started all 13 at the WILL. Once the trust between the two seniors and the coaches was there, which was right around the time Big 12 play began, they took off; Hicks led the team in tackles with 147, Edmond was second with 131. They tied for second on the team in tackles for loss (13), Edmond had 5.5 sacks and Hicks recorded 3.5.

During that season they both served different functions at various times based on the opponent they were facing. That’s what I see for Jefferson and Wheeler at some point, but it’s going to be when they’re both fundamentally sound players who the staff trusts enough to use in a manner of ways.

As for Fowler, with Strong liking linebackers to fill out his special teams units and with the Longhorns already being three-deep at Fox, it’s not a crime to start Fowler at inside linebacker. On top of the fact that he was one of the best players on the field at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl playing inside linebacker, Fowler’s presence there down the road could allow the staff to either move a guy like Jefferson to the outside for good, or it could add a lot more versatility to linebacking corps on its way to having plenty of it.

Fourth Down: Who’s starting on defense and who’s with the second unit

Don’t get caught up on whether Bryce Cottrell or Charles Omenihu takes the first snap at strong end.

If Paul Boyette and Poona Ford are the starters at tackle it doesn’t mean the freshmen have slammed into a wall.

The thought of Dylan Haines and Jason Hall as the starting safety tandem could be a sign for some that Brandon Jones and DeShon Elliott couldn’t cut the mustard.

Of course none of those assumptions would be correct.

The Texas defense faced an average of 80.4 plays per game last season and Vance Bedford has already said this summer that he’s expecting his unit to see more plays per contest in 2016. One of the things that bit the Longhorns in the backside last season was a lack of depth, which thankfully is not the case entering the coming season.

If Kris Boyd, Breckyn Hager and Jordan Elliott don’t start, don’t panic. They’re going to play a lot and in the case of a player like Boyd, he could wind up playing as much or more than the starters depending on how the game unfolds.

Strong said following the scrimmage that he’s told his assistant coaches that there’s no excuses for giving the No. 2 group of a ton of practice reps and not playing them in games if they’re ready. One of the best ways to make sure your defenses is still standing in the fourth quarter is to keep players fresh, something the Longhorns actually have a chance to do now.

Want free VIP access to Horns247? Click here and take advantage of this offer!