Steve Sarkisian says Texas Longhorns better positioned to compete after removing ‘some warts’ from last year

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Wednesday that he is ending naming a starting quarterback and believes Longhorns better equipped as a group than it was a year ago to face any test that happens in 2022.

Texas, in Sarkisian’s first season as a coach, finished 5-7 and lost six games in a row, marking the Longhorns’ longest losing streak since 1956.

“The kids who don’t know everyone in that locker room were last year,” Sarkisian told ESPN. “I think they can sense it, and they want to get rid of some warts, some bad apples. I think they have a real sense of some of the things we’re talking about and trying to seep into. I don’t know how much they believed it, and then things like that fed their ugly heads during the season.

“They came back in January thinking ‘We have to keep these things in mind because they’ll come up again.’ They’ve made that investment and bought every aspect of it, and you can feel it in our team.”

Similar to a year ago, Longhorn once again had a quarterback battle ahead of this season. Redshirt second year Hudson Card and freshman in red shirt Quinn Ewersa former five-star prospect who spent the 2021 season at Ohio State, are competing for the job started. A year ago, it was Casey Thompson and Battle Cards for work. Card won the starting spot in the first two games, but Thompson replaced him at the end of the 40-21 loss first Arkansas in Week 2 and remained a starter for the rest of the way. Thompson has since moved to Nebraska.

“Last year it was difficult to have two new players join [offensive] system, and that’s always difficult, especially when one of them isn’t a beginner who’s actually back in the fire,” Sarkisian said. This year, although they are new, Hudson has a bit of experience, and Quinn is from a different show. The reality is that Quinn really should be a freshman in college. He reclassified after pre-season camp began. It’s been a season for him. “

Sarkisian is amused by the bond between his two midfielders despite the stiff competition and the fact that they are “not passionate about what the other guy is doing.”

Sarkisian said both players have made some plays before this season, while “both have growing pains, but that’s camp.”

He added that he believes he “has an idea” of who to start and doesn’t want to wait too long before telling the team. Texas opens the season on September 3 at home first Louisiana-Monroe and then face the number 1 Alabama next week at home.

One thing Sarkisian doesn’t want to do is get into a situation this season where he rotates midfielders.

“I think it’s very difficult for a midfielder to get the rhythm that way, and I think you play the other way when you know, ‘Hey, I don’t know how many throws I’m going to make,’ and you lose too much muscle. festival”. Sarkisian said. “I just don’t think decision-making is very good.”

A year ago, Sarkisian said that Card had suffered the consequences of the Arkansas loss unfairly when Hogs went 16-0 at halftime and 33-7 at the end of the third half as Thompson stepped into the match. into the game.

“The reality is we didn’t play well as a team, and I’m not sure we’ll ever recover from that loss,” said Sarkisian, who was tied with Thompson in the starting position. as the Longhorns had more successful finishes that boosted the firsts. three games while he was on the field.

“But it is never comfortable. It repeats itself throughout the year, and we never find our rhythm. I am very convinced that the position of being the most important position in sport makes sense. do, because that person instills confidence in everyone in the organization, attack, defence, coaching staff, fans, everyone. … And we never got there in years. Last year. We never got that faction right.”

In the Longhorns’ six-game losing streak, they lost three of those games by eight points or less to nationally ranked teams. There was also a fourth loss in overtime for Kansaswith the Jayhawks winning in Austin for the first time.

“The [quarterback situation] is a much bigger deal for those who aren’t in the program,” said a Texas student who ran again Bijan Robinson, who dashed 1,127 yards and 11 touches last season and also caught 4 touchdown passes. “We’re in quarterback to put him at ease, play for him and be there for him for the whole season, not just parts of the season. What we have to do this season is finish the games. matches, and it’s not just on quarterbacks.”

As the losses mounted a year ago, Sarkisian was careful to remind himself how important it was for him “in the midst of so many storms” to maintain a level of consistency with the team, the media, and the team. , sponsors and fans.

“We’re going to continue our journey with what we believe in and how we’re going to do it over time, without panic, and we’ll go out on the other side where that ray of sunshine is,” Sarkisian said. .

A big chunk of that sunshine can be found in a 2023 recruiting class ranked 3rd nationally by ESPN, a class that includes the country’s top quarterback prospects in Arch Manning. That’s the kind of recruiting incentive that hasn’t gone away for the current Texas players.

“You can see the players jumping on the pitch, and it’s important for us this year to maintain that momentum on the pitch and get this program back on track,” said Robinson. Robinson said. “You can see it, and you can feel it.”