AUSTIN -- Even before the first snap in the Texas spring game, players squared off one-on-one in a circle drill surrounded by teammates.
On the final play, linebacker Malik Jefferson stuffed running back Toneil Carter inches from the goal line as defensive players celebrated.
"That's what we've been preaching the whole time. We finally got a chance to show it," senior linebacker Naashon Hughes said. "It's competing for everything each and every time you go out there."
Hughes called it the most competitive spring practice he's experienced at Texas. From the beginning, when new coach Tom Herman called out the conditioning of the defensive line to the introduction of $10,000 bleeding-edge lockers, the changes have been as subtle as the sledgehammer Herman used to start demolishing the locker room.