Texas Football Names 79 Players to SEC Academic Honor Roll

The Texas Longhorns have been improving both on and off the field this season to accumulate a program-high GPA.

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian embraces defensive back Jahdae Barron (7) as Barron is honored as one of Texas' seniors in their last home game pf the season against the Kentucky Wildcats at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Nov. 23, 2024. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Texas Longhorns not only tackled their opponents on the football field this season, but tackled their academics inside the classroom as well.

Texas football welcomed 79 student athletes to the 2024 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll on Saturday after accumulating a program-best 3.27 GPA for the fall semester.

This high performance can be attributed to the culture that head coach Steve Sarkisian has founded within his four-year tenure, and he has made it clear that improving his players' academic mindset was a goal of his from the beginning.

Success on and off the field 🤘

7️⃣9️⃣ Longhorns were named to the 2024 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll pic.twitter.com/neAPbB4dZp

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) February 8, 2025

"When I got the job in 2021 in January, after that spring semester, I got a team GPA from our administration. We had a 2.33 team GPA. Well, what happened that fall? We went 5-7. How many players did we get drafted? Zero," Sarkisian said as a guest speaker at the Texas High School Coaches Association back in July.

He went on to say how the team's overall GPA correlated with their success during the fall season and has ultimately led them to a Big 12 Championship title and back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances.

Jan 10, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian before the College Football Playoff semifinal against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

"The next spring ... we end up with a 2.76 team GPA. That fall, we go 8-5. We have five players drafted. We go through the next fall. All the sudden the spring comes around, we have a 2.98 team GPA. We go 12-2, we're Big 12 champs, we go to the College Football Playoff and we have 11 players drafted, more than Texas ever has." Sarkisian said. "We use an adage around our place, who you are some of the time is who you are all of the time."

Fifth-year senior defensive back and Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron expressed how Sarkisian personally helped him in reaching his goals of graduating from Texas following the loss to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl earlier this year.

"It's going to be amazing for these guys, and the reason they're going to be amazing is because Coach Sark and what he's about," Barron said. "It's nothing about football...it's culture, who you are as a person. As soon as he got here, our GPA's got better. I mean, he pushed me to graduate, I know that was hard on him. He truly wants everybody to be a better person."

The Longhorns will look to improve even more next season as Sarkisian will return for his fifth year.

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