DALLAS – As they prepare to enter their first year as a member of the Southeastern Conference, the Texas Longhorns are not tip-toeing their way into the league.
They plan on charging right in.
That was certainly the impression given by head coach Steve Sarkisian on Wednesday. The former Alabama and Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator said he and his team plan on taking last year’s trip to the College Football semifinals and turning it into something even more special this fall.
“There's an idea of obsession going on in our locker room right now,” Sarkisian said. “They got a taste of what it can taste like, of being a Big 12 champion, playing in a College Football Playoff, and we fell short. This idea of obsession, the obsession that our players have, is one that really came from them. They couldn't wait to get back to work. They couldn't wait to get back in the weight room.”
Having quarterback Quinn Ewers back leading the offense would boost the confidence of a lot of coaches.
Along with Georgia’s Carson Beck, Las Vegas oddsmakers claim Ewers is one of the two preseason favorites to win the Heisman Trophy, after a season that saw him completing 272 of 394 passes for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Like the Bulldog team that the Longhorns will host on Oct. 19 in Austin, there’s no shortage of talent on both sides of the ball.
But it’s not just the talent level that has Sarkisian excited..
“When I took the job, it was almost like kind of prodding cattle to make sure that what they were doing day in and day out to get them to that point,” Sarkisian said. “Now we've got a team full of hungry players. It's a competitive, competitive roster, and I love that about them because in this conference you've got to have depth.”
It was a tough beginning.
Texas went 5-7 in Sarkisian’s first year, improved to 8-5 in 2022, going 12-2 last season, ultimately falling to Washington in the CFP Semifinals, 37-31.
“There's the development of players in your program, so hey, I'll tell you this much, 5-7 in Austin, Texas, sucks. That was hard. That was hard on me. That was hard on players. That was hard on a lot of people,” Sarkisian said. “We went 8-5 the next year and that was a little more palatable for people. But as you continue to stay committed to who you are and you stay committed to your course of action, you stay committed to what you believe in, over time you start to reap the benefits of that.”
Three years later, Sarkisian feels his program is ready for the new challenges that await.
While he respects the league and teams his Longhorns will play, Sarkisian said Texas is ready to face whatever and whoever lies ahead.
“Everybody earned their opportunity in our program over the past three years, and the beauty of that has been our players recognize that, and then now they know the process to go make it work,” he said. “Last year we raved about the leadership of about five or six guys, Jordan Whittingtons of the world, Byron Murphys of the world. This year I could probably tell you I've got 25 leaders because these guys have grown up in our program. They don't know any different than our culture.”
