Longhorns Country

Texas Longhorns Showing Different Attitude During Summer Workouts

The Texas Longhorns seem to have their heads in the right places during summer workouts, carrying a moxie about them that could help lead to a Big 12 title.

Casey Smith

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The Texas Longhorns' window is now, and they realize that.

The past few days the Texas football Twitter account has posted videos of the Longhorns' workouts and there's a certain purpose about them on their quest for their first Big 12 Championship since 2009. This comes just a week after Texas' 2024 Southeastern Conference schedule reveal was met with over 35 players and coaches posting a photo of its 2023 slate, emphasizing where their focus lies.

With the Longhorns heading to the Southeastern Conference starting in 2024, this season is the final chance they have at conquering the Big 12. The last time Texas played its final season in a conference — when the Southwest Conference folded in May 1996 — it won the championship during the 1995 football season.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian enters his third season at the helm with something to prove. Despite an 8-5 season in 2022, his overall record is 13-12 in the previous two seasons with a loss in last year's Valero Alamo Bowl in his lone postseason game.

He has the right quarterback to do so in Quinn Ewers, who returns for his second season under center in Austin looking to rebound after a disappointing 2022 season.

Ewers has all the tools to be successful: a backfield that consists of two returners who each scored five touchdowns and a 2023 five-star, above-average pass-catching options in wide receivers Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell and tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders and all five starting offensive linemen returning.

The defense will need to hold up its end of the bargain for an offense that looks to be top 10 in the country and one of the best in the Big 12.

The Longhorns know it's now or never to hoist the Big 12 Championship trophy before heading to even more of an uphill conference-title climb in the SEC.

They have the right pieces and they have the right mindset in summer workouts, but can they put it all together on the field in 2023? Only time will tell, especially with their first litmus test on the road against Alabama in week two.

A win against the Crimson Tide, and you might want to start telling yourself Texas is back.

You can follow Casey Smith on Twitter @casey_smith2419

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Casey Smith
CASEY SMITH

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