Texas 1 of 10 With 'National Championship Potential' in 2023, Says Analyst

According to 247Sports, Texas is one of just a handful of teams with national title potential in 2023.

Matt Galatzan | Feb 5, 2023

AUSTIN - The Texas Longhorns took major strides under Steve Sarkisian in 2022.

Not just on the field, but also on the recruiting trail.

As such, the hype surrounding the Longhorns heading into the 2023 season will be at its highest since the Mack Brown era.

But 247Sports might have taken things to the next level, picking the Longhorns as one of just 10 teams in the country who they believe has 'national championship potential.'

If there's a Big 12 team capable of not just making the playoff but actually winning it all, it's the Longhorns. TCU made the national title game with a roster nowhere remotely on the same area code as Texas in 2022 — the Horned Frogs had 17 players with a 4-star rating or higher while Texas boasted 59(!) — so there's no reason why the Longhorns can't manage the Big 12 slate the way TCU did with the proper coaching.

With a full season of starts under the belt of Quinn Ewers, a handful of impact transfers such as Georgia wideout AD Mitchell, Arkansas safety Jalen Catalon, and Wake Forest corner Gavin Holmes, and another elite recruiting class incoming, it is easy to see why 247 is so high on the Horns.

That said, Sarkisian will have to help the Longhorns will have to overcome a recent history of disappointment.

But if the Horns can make the same level of jump they made from Year 1 to Year 2, from Year 2 to Year 3, anything is possible in Austin.

You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan

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Published Feb 5, 2023

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.