Steve Sarkisian talks managing loaded Texas QB room, striving for his program to have Alabama-like success

Texas is coming off a 12-2 season highlighted by its first-ever College Football Playoff look. It marked a breakthrough season for coach Steve Sarkisian, who went 5-7 in 2021 and 8-5 in 2022. Now, coming into his fourth 12 months, Sarkisian faces a contemporary problem as Texas enters a 16-team SEC that can be including Red River rival Oklahoma.

After happening the street and beating Alabama 34-24 in Week 2 of the 2023 season, the Longhorns can enter their new convention with confidence after conducting one thing few different SEC groups may throughout Nick Saban’s legendary 17-year teaching run with the Crimson Tide.

“I laugh when everyone says it’s not the same Alabama anymore,” Sarkisian told Josh Pate throughout an intensive interview for the “Pate State Speaker Series.” “Well, they were in the College Football Playoff again and were a play away from playing for the national championship. So, year in and year out, that’s the consistency that Coach Saban had gotten that program to. That’s obviously what we’re striving for.”

Maintaining the upward trajectory in 2024, and even bettering, might be powerful for Texas. The schedule includes a Week 2 journey to reigning nationwide champion Michigan and a Week 3 house recreation with Group of Five energy UTSA. Back-to-back video games with Oklahoma and Georgia spotlight October earlier than a comparatively manageable November marked by the renewal of the program’s rivalry with Texas A&M to cap the common season.

The Longhorns got here in at No. 4 in Dennis Dodd’s post-spring Top 25, placing them squarely within the preseason nationwide title dialog. Texas ranks No. 25 in returning manufacturing, per ESPN’s Bill Connelly, even after shedding 11 NFL Draft picks. Those 11 picks have been probably the most Texas has ever produced in a seven-round NFL Draft.

But the Longhorns’ offseason was marked as a lot by who stayed as by who left. 

Star quarterback Quinn Ewers spurned the draft to return for one other 12 months after passing for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns whereas finishing 69% of his passes. With former No. 1 general prospect Arch Manning at No. 2 on the quarterback depth chart, Sarkisian has a humiliation of riches at what he described as “the most important position in sports.” Four-star freshman Trey Owens rounds out what’s arguably the perfect quarterback room in school soccer, even after skilled backup Maalik Murphy’s switch to Duke.

“Having Quinn back for a third year is huge,” Sarkisian mentioned. “Watching his growth and maturation over three years has been incredible. Just looking at Arch from Year 1 to Year 2, and then we have a young player in Trey Owens who we think is going to be a really good player as well. We like the room. Knock on wood, you hope you don’t have to go to all those guys on the depth chart. But a year ago, we did, and we were able to win a couple games with a backup quarterback starting.”

With Saban retired, LSU and Oklahoma searching for breakthroughs underneath third-year coaches, Texas A&M transitioning to new coach Mike Elko and traditionally robust packages like Auburn and Florida attempting to discover their manner after shedding seasons, the door is open for the Longhorns to enter the SEC with an announcement.

Last season’s win over Alabama and CFP look made for a powerful prelude. Now comes a brand new kind of grind for the Longhorns by which they’ll want to deliver the precision they’d at Alabama final season on a near-weekly foundation.

“I think that was a great checkmark on our journey for a lot of people to look back at that game, and it was like, ‘OK now we’ve assembled the team and culture that can go achieve that,’” Sarkisian mentioned. “Now how do we find that level of consistency to do it year in and year out?”