U. Texas football coach Mack Brown got what he wanted out of the Orange-White Game on Sunday.

The majority of the focus was on quarterback Garrett Gilbert, who earns more stripes every time he plays in public. Brown said that the biggest question heading into the spring was if Gilbert could take the national championship game and “springboard” toward confidence and leadership with the team.

“He really seems to be able to do that,” Brown said. “The team trusts him. They really think he is the guy.”

Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp thinks so too, and he also believes that one of the most important aspects about Gilbert is the fact that the defense trusts him.

“Our defensive players have a lot of confidence [in Gilbert]. Our guys know that Garrett is an arm talent, a pedigree player and a winner,” Muschamp said. “What jumps out at me is the confidence the defensive players have when he is under center, when he is making the calls. I know it gets our competitive juices flowing.”

Gilbert went 10-of-13 passing for 165 yards and three touchdowns in the spring game. Though he praised his entire receiving corps afterward, it seems one of Gilbert’s favorite targets in the passing game has become sophomore DeSean Hales. Hales had three catches for 77 yards and a 41-yard touchdown.

“DeSean has done a great job all spring,” Gilbert said. “He’s been good about going out, making plays, running routes, and he’s emerging as a go-to guy. All the receivers made some strides, and I’m excited to see them work.”

Because the coaching staff had so much confidence in Colt McCoy’s passing skills, the running game fell by the wayside. That’s not happening this year.

“We did not run the ball well last year at all,” Brown said. “I think we actually got worse as the year went on. Last year Colt was so good, we just threw it every time. We can throw it every time with Garrett, but we want to go back and be more balanced. We’re going to be good in the running game.”

Running backs Fozzy Whittaker and Tre’ Newton hold the spots at the top of the depth chart. Then there are Jeremy Hills and Chris Whaley, who are in the mix as well.

The coaches saw good things from the defensive ends but are still concerned with the thinness at defensive tackle and the strength up the middle of the defensive line. Over the spring and then in the Orange-White Game, defensive coordinator Will Muschamp was most impressed by junior defensive tackle Kheeston Randall, whom coaches believe resembles the play and progress of Lamarr Houston.

“I think he had an outstanding spring and really worked on a lot of the things that we challenged him to work on regarding his flexibility, durability and changing direction. He did that and it showed up in his play,” Muschamp said.

With the loss of Earl Thomas, there have been questions about Texas’ secondary. Those speculations were somewhat put to rest at the spring game as sophomore Kenny Vaccaro showed how Texas’ secondary will be, as Brown called it, “as good as we’ve ever had.”

Vaccaro played physically, instinctively and tough. He looked fearless and comfortable, sticking his head in gaps to make plays.

“He plays the game how you want it to be played,” Muschamp said. “Football is very important to him, and he plays at full speed.”

The coaches were excited with what they saw in the spring game, but also said there is a lot of work to do. Now the question for Texas is how to incorporate the new freshmen class – a highly touted group of players who will compete with veterans for playing time – and keep the morale and chemistry up to par.