Steve Sarkisian Says Texas Has ‘John Wick Mentality’ in Final Big 12 Season

The Longhorns will join the SEC ahead of the 2024 college football season.

As Texas prepares to exit the Big 12 for the SEC in 2024, the Longhorns are not departing the league without seeking to leave a lasting impression.

Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters Tuesday that his team is “on a mission” to make its final season in the Big 12 one to remember.

“They've [the Longhorns] taken this mindset of being on a mission,” Sarkisian said at Tuesday’s news conference, per ESPN. “They've kind of adopted the John Wick mentality. … I think that they've kind of assumed this mentality of, ‘Embrace the hate.’ … We’re the University of Texas, we get it. ... We can sit there and be a punching bag, or we can go attack the people that we’re going to play. And I think that they’ve assumed that responsibility to say, hey, we’re gonna go after everybody else too.”

Texas, a program that finished 8–5 overall and 6–3 in conference play, was selected as the top team in the league’s media poll to win the conference, marking the first time the Longhorns have been in this position since 2009.

However, a big part of the Longhorns’ success next season will be based on the play of second-year quarterback Quinn Ewers. Sarkisian stated that Ewers has a better understanding of the offense as well as trust from his teammates.

“I think clearly, you know, he’s in a great frame of mind,” Sarkisian said. “This feels like his team. He leads that way, you can hear how he talks to the team that way.”

Texas opens the 2023 season on Sept. 2 against Rice.