Steve Sarkisian says Texas is on a mission entering 2023 season

The time feels like now for Texas. Steve Sarkisian has placed the Longhorns in a great position to be contenders this season, something we have seen before. Plenty of times results have fallen short of expectations on the 40 Acres. Even so, there seems to be a sense of belief as the calendar turns to August.

Part of the reason is because of the mindset displayed by everyone involved with the program. Sarkisian touched on it while at Big 12 Media Days and mentioned it again on Tuesday. Texas feels like they are on a mission in 2023, having the desire to finally have success at Texas.

“I think this team is on a mission,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve taken this mindset of being on a mission. They’ve kind of adopted the John Wick mentality. I know Quinn (Ewers) has touched on and Jordan (Whittington) has touched on that they’ve really focused. And I think that’s probably the thing. They want to go do this, they want to be focused on the task at hand.

The mission Sarkisian, Ewers, and Whittington keep discussing is a Big 12 championship.

Texas opened the conference by winning the league back in 1996. Everyone wants to close it down with one as well before heading off to the SEC. A book ending for Texas, with a ton of Oklahoma success in between, could be how things play out.

In their minds, everyone else in the Big 12 would despise nothing more. Even officials in the league office have spoken out against the Longhorns and the SEC move. Just a year away, there is still one final season to play with some built-up feelings bubbling out.

Instead of taking the hits, the goal for Texas is to go out there and attack. Sarkisian enjoys the mentality and believes it’s resonated with his players as they head into fall camp. Based on his comments, Sarkisian believes everyone is in the right mindset ahead of the Sept. 2 opener.

“I think they’ve assumed this mentality of ‘Embrace the hate,'” Sarkisian said. “We get it, we’re the University of Texas. We get it, this is our last year in the Big 12. We can sit there and be a punching bag or we can go attack the people that we are going to play. I’ve think they’ve assumed that responsibility to say ‘we’re going to go after everybody else too.’

“I think that’s the right mentality to have.”