SAN ANTONIO – UTSA continued fall training camp with its second day of practices Saturday at the UTSA Football Practice Fields.
UTSA opened its 2019 training camp – the ninth season in program history – with reporting day on Thursday, before kicking off the practice slate on Friday with a split-squad workout. On Saturday, UTSA again returned to the practice field in a split-squad format, including morning and evening sessions.
"Our practice today is one for the ages. We had a very, very good practice on this day," head coach Frank Wilson said. "It's a team that oozes with confidence and the leadership continues to raise the bar every day. Competition all over the field and at the back end of the practice, when the final horn blows, it's a team that begs for more. I've heard and seen that before, teams that were of championship culture. Something we're trying to establish in sincerity here. I was very, very pleased with our practice today and all three phases of our team got better today, and again something different; there's something different in the air and I hope that we can continue to build upon that and allow us to continue to make strides."
"There's something different in the air."#BirdsUp 🤙 pic.twitter.com/JVL7o7uhVq
— UTSA Football 🏈 (@UTSAFTBL) August 3, 2019
Tight ends give offensive attack versatility
UTSA's offensive attack enters preseason camp boosted by talented depth at the tight end position.
In 2018, UTSA's tight ends accounted for 23 catches, with Gavin Sharp grabbing a position-group leading 16 balls for 114 yards.
Sharp, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound native of Leander, Texas, leads the group into 2019. He's joined in a talented position group by junior transfers Carlos Strickland II and Leroy Watson, sophomore Andrew Acosta and freshmen Oscar Cardenas and Nathan Guyton.
"This is the most talent I've been around in a tight end room," Watson said. "We're deep, we can go four or five deep. Gavin (Sharp) knows his stuff. He's physical and can do everything. Carlos is dynamic in the passing game and he's strong in the run blocking too. Acosta, everybody, we're a talented group and it's a real brotherhood in that room."
Strickland II and Watson joined the team for spring practice and made immediate impacts. Strickland, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound native of Dallas, came to the Roadrunners from Kansas State.
"Carlos is a multiple guy," Wilson said. "He's again a guy that has an outstanding pass-catching skill set, a guy that has earned his way. He came here as a transfer. When spring came, we put him on full scholarship because of the advantages he gives us. He gives us matchup problems for defenses because he is a guy of stature, but not quite like Leroy and some of the other guys, Gavin and Oscar. He's not a 270, 260 (pound) guy. He's more athletic on the perimeter, but strong enough at 240 that he can block at the point of the attack."
Watson earned immediate and consistent praise in spring practice for his ability as a run-blocking weapon.
"He is a big man, arguably – definitely – the best blocking tight end in junior college a year ago, and he has continued to develop from a ball-skills standpoint," Wilson said. "You think (back to) high school and prior, he always was an offensive lineman that just really reshaped his body so he's dominant at the point of attack. He has developed into being a pass threat and he is everything that we hoped he would be. I am very pleased with his development."
With versatile depth, it allows Wilson and offensive coordinator Jeff Kastl an opportunity to find the best situations to maximize the skillset of their tight ends.
"From an offensive philosophy standpoint, it's critical that that position group is able to move about and play dual roles for us and keep a defense honest," Wilson said.
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