Orange-White Preview

The eyes of Texas are upon Charlie Strong: What to watch for during Orange-White Scrimmage

The next big step towards Longhorn football season takes place this weekend. On Saturday, fans can finally catch a glimpse of the future of Charlie Strong’s Longhorns at the annual Orange-White Scrimmage, kicking off at 1 pm. Here’s a brief rundown of what to keep an eye on when the “Stronghorns” take the field.

Swoopes leads the way
Finally, we'll see extensive playing time from sophomore quarterback Tyrone Swoopes. In 2013, his main job was to help run the clock out, but now we'll watch Swoopes’ arm at work, since likely starter David Ash is out due to a foot injury.

We already know that Swoopes is a big, physical runner, and Strong been happy with his passing during spring practice. Don’t expect for him to do anything too fancy, considering that quarterback coach and assistant head coach for offense, Shawn Watson, described the game plan for Saturday as “vanilla.” Even a simplistic performance, won’t stop hardcore fans from proclaiming that Swoopes will make Strong forget his old Louisville quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater.

A thinner running back corps
While quarterback play was a thorn in the side of Mack Brown’s final seasons as head coach, Texas still had a surprisingly robust group of running backs to pick up the slack. Saturday’s scrimmage, however, will show a running back corps with less depth.

From last year’s three-headed hydra of Malcolm Brown, Joe Bergeron and Jonathan Gray, only Brown touch the ball this year. Gray is still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon from last season, and bruiser Bergeron is taking time off to focus on personal issues that Strong asked him to work on. If the quarterback position struggles and Bergeron and Gray are unable to fully contribute, it’ll be a long season for Brown once again.

A look at Strong’s defense
Despite his focus on the skill positions on offense, it’s important to remember that Strong is a defensive coach who needs to rebuild the Longhorn defense after whatever it was Manny Diaz did during his tenure.

Strong, teaming up with defensive coordinator and secondary coach Vance Bedford, is still in the early stages of developing the “identity” of the defense. In Thursday’s press conference, Bedford suggested that the focus on Saturday and the upcoming season is less on surprising teams with unexpected looks (we’re looking at you again, Diaz) and more on fundamentals. “If we execute well on defense, we tackle well on defense, we run up to the ball, then we have a chance to be pretty decent.”

Coaching presence on the sidelines
The scrimmage could be somewhat boring in terms of X’s and O’s, but one thing that will keep you invested is what happens on the sidelines — and which coach will be the team’s sideline firebrand.

Fans will no longer see Mack frantically clapping and yelling during a game, and former defensive backs coach Duane Akina has taken his screaming talents to Stanford. Strong is known for trying to light a fire under his players in both practice and game time, but the true dark horse for the team's new sideline hype man is defensive backs coach Chris Vaughn. But why would it matter to have coaches who fire up their team?

Players playing with intensity
Charlie Strong was brought in to win more games, and a big component of reaching that goal is changing the attitude of the program. Fans have criticized teams from the past several seasons over lax attitudes and feelings of entitlement. Now we'll see if the players are taking Strong’s no-nonsense attitude to heart.

If you want a peek at how the intensity is starting to change for players after just one offseason under Strong, Burnt Orange Nation provides a side-by-side comparison of circle drills under Mack Brown from last year versus circle drills from earlier this month. The quickest takeaway is that players feed off of the coaches’ passion; don't expect this new brand of Longhorn to treat Saturday's scrimmage like a lazy holiday weekend.

Expect plenty of scrutiny of Strong's new team after the Orange and White Scrimmage.

Coach Charlie Strong giving hook 'em at DKR Stadium

Texas Longhorns Facebook

Expect plenty of scrutiny of Strong's new team after the Orange and White Scrimmage.

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it's a lifestyle

Austin is one of the best places in America to be vegan, report says

The Beer Plant/thebeerplant.com

Vegans have made a large mark on Austin's local culinary scene.

Austin's vegan culinary scene has been steadily expanding over the last year, so much so that the Texas capital now ranks as the No. 6 best city in America for those living a plant-based lifestyle.

Austin moved up three spots in WalletHub's latest annual "Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians" study, after previously ranking No. 9 in 2023. The report analyzed 100 U.S. cities based on grocery affordability, vegetarian restaurant diversity, accessibility, and quality, and other vegetarian or vegan lifestyle considerations.

The city had a high affordability ranking with the sixth-lowest cost of groceries for vegetarians out of all 100 cities in the ranking. Laredo (No. 1); Greensboro, North Carolina (No. 2); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (No. 3); San Antonio (No. 4); and Tulsa, Oklahoma (No. 5) were the top five cities with the lowest grocery cost for vegetarians.

Factors that have enhanced Austin's diverse vegan scene throughout the year include a new bakery opening specializing in vegan olive oil cakes, and the addition of non-dairy mozzarella on the menu at all four Home Slice Pizza locations in Texas. But even larger chains are starting to make room at the dining table for vegans and vegetarians, too.

Home Slice vegan pizza It only took 19 years for Home Slice to find the perfect non-dairy cheese. Photo courtesy of Home Slice

"Just look at businesses like McDonald’s and Burger King incorporating Beyond Meat and Impossible burgers into their menus, for example," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "With meat prices rising significantly faster than vegetable prices, too, we may see a lot more people taking a foray into a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle in the near future."

Of course, Austin has plenty of legacy restaurants that focus just on vegan and vegetarian food, although they're subject to the same woes that keep other Austin restaurants on a tightrope between continued success and sudden closings. Bouldin Creek Cafe (with vegan and vegetarian versions of the same menu), Zucchini Kill, and the Beer Plant all have at least seven years under their belts; relative newcomers like the entirely plant-based fine dining restaurant Fabrik and sushi spot Nori also keep things fresh.

Gati vegan ice cream Gati, an East Austin shop specializing in vegan ice cream and vegan and gluten-free baking, offers more than 40 rotating flavors, like these seasonal pumpkin spice scoops.Photo courtesy of Gati

Austin was the only Texas city to make it into the top 10. Elsewhere in Texas, the only other cities to make it in the top 30 were Houston (No. 18), San Antonio (No. 20), and Dallas (No. 30).

The top 10 most vegetarian- and vegan-friendly cities in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – Los Angeles, California
No. 2 – Orlando, Florida
No. 3 – Portland, Oregon
No. 4 – San Diego, California
No. 5 – Seattle, Washington
No. 6 – Austin, Texas
No. 7 – San Francisco, California
No. 8 – Miami, Florida
No. 9 – Phoenix, Arizona
No. 10 – Tampa, Florida

The full report and its methodology can be found on wallethub.com.

wallethub reports rankings vegan vegetarian austin