All Sooners

Big 12 Media Days: Steve Sarkisian Explains Why This Texas Team Just 'Looks Different'

He likes UT's leadership at quarterback, a talented group of newcomers, a bunch of experienced returners and everyone's faith in the system going into Year 3.

John E. Hoover

John E. Hoover / AllSooners

ARLINGTON, TX – Texas coach Steve Sarkisian isn’t worried about hurting any feelings as the Longhorns embark on their final season in the Big 12 Conference.

“It won’t be awkward for us,” Sarkisian said on Wednesday at AT&T Stadium. “I can’t speak for anybody else, but it won’t be awkward for us. “We've got a roster full of players who quite frankly came to the University of Texas to try to win a Big 12Championship, and we've got one more opportunity to dothat, and I think our guys are focused on that.”

Texas is the prohibitive favorite to win the Big 12 this year – it would be the ‘Horns’ fourth conference crown in 28 seasons – but while Sarkisian likes his roster, he isn’t necessarily buying into the preseason hype.

“I don't know what surprises me,” Sarkisian said. “I don't know what you guys do at night, man, so you guys are the one that decide who gets picked where, quite frankly – and not to take anything away from you. It doesn't really matter, right? It's how we play and what we do.

“We've got really quality competitive depth on our roster across the board,” Sarkisian said. “That our players know when they go to practice every day, the guy in the same line as them, whether he's behind them or in front of them, is probably as equally talented as him, if not better. So now, ‘How do I continue to work to strive to be motivated to continue to get better?’ Because I think when you're surrounded by like-minded people, that's what pushes you to become even better.”

Although this year is the first time since 2009 that the Longhorns have been forecast by Big 12 media as the preseason favorite, Texas has been rated high in the preseason before, only to fall flat – a lot over the last 12 years, actually.

But even Sarkisian admits this year feels different.

“I was talking to the team earlier today about how proud I am of the culture they've developed,” he said. “It's one thing for me to come in and have an idea of a culture and what I want it to look like and for them to buy into it. It's another to not just buy into it but to elevate it. I think that's what they've done. This team is different. They have a different look in their eye. They look different on the hoof. They interact with one another differently.

“I've used the adage – I feel like this team is on a mission, because that's the approach they have every day that they show up in the facility.”

Quarterback Quinn Ewers, Sarkisian said, has shown a different side, too, although he likes many of the intrinsic qualities he saw out of Ewers last year as a redshirt freshman.

“He came back for the OU game, coming off the injury, and had a really good football game,” Sarkisian said. “You go read about the quotes that he had after that game, all he did was praise his teammates for how well they played. Then we don't play great against Oklahoma State and we suffer a loss – and he took all the blame.

“So I think right then, you found out the type of leader that he is. What he did coming into this off-season is continued just to pour into what does he need to do to be the best quarterback for the University of Texas.”

Like most teams, Texas drew heavily from the NCAA Transfer Portal. But Sarkisian is more impressed with the players who were already on the Forty Acres.

“As much as there's a lot of focus on a lot of the new players that have come into our program, there should be a lot of focus on the players that are in year three with me now,” he said. “When I think about Jaylan Ford, Jahdae Barron, Xavier Worthy, Christian Jones, T'Vondre Sweat, Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton – I'm just naming a few. These are all guys I inherited when I got here.

“I know a lot is made of the players that we've brought in, but we've got a lot of veteran players that came to the University of Texas to win a championship. They bought into a new coach, a new coaching staff, a new style of play, a new culture, and inevitably they're leaders on our team now, and they get a chance going into some of them their final season to compete for a Big 12 Championship.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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