Steve Sarkisian 'Proud' of Texas Longhorns Veterans Who 'Stuck Around'

The Texas Longhorns are fortunate to have a big group of veterans who bought into Steve Sarkisian's vision early on.

In the modern era of college football, it is more common than it ever has been for players to leave a program.

Whether they are leaving for playing time, NIL opportunities, or because they end up not being a culture fit, it is one of the expected outcomes in college football these days. However, when speaking to the media recently, head coach Steve Sarkisian wanted to commend the players from the previous regime who stuck around through the difficult times in his first year or so at Texas.

"The thing I'm probably most proud of is the players that have been with us for three years," Sarkisian said.

He went on to name players that he was proud of, who quite frankly all could have left had they not seen the bigger picture. 

"I think about Jerrin Thompson, Kitan Crawford, Jahdae Barron, Jaylan Ford, David Gbenda, T'Vondre Sweat, Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton, Barryn Sorrell, Byron Murphy, Christian Jones, Jake Majors, JT Sanders, Gunnar Helm, Jordan Whittington, Xavier Worthy, Jonathon Brooks, Keilan Robinson... Those guys had to endure that first season. They came back to work and showed a lot of leadership going into year two, and they saw some growth in year two."

Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington after the Oklahoma Loss / © Jerome Miron, USA TODAY

Sarkisian touched on the fact that they not only showed belief in the direction of the program, but they made it so the program would be better for years to come.

"They believed in what we were doing even through some difficult times in that first season," Sarkisian said. "Not only did they stick around, they improved it and they made us better."

Now, those players who stuck around have a chance to lead Texas to success they haven't experienced since 2009 as both the Big 12 title and College Football Playoff are in play.