Steve Sarkisian: Texas has a 'hungry' football team

Texas set a high bar for program success under head coach Steve Sarkisian last season, winning the Big 12 and earning a berth in the College Football Playoff. And talking about his latest squad amid spring practice, Sarkisian feels he’s got a group that’s intent on meeting or exceeding the standard set in 2023.

While it’s long road from now to kickoff in Week 1, Sarkisian is already seeing the sorts of things that are telltales of a competitive, success-driven group of players. And he’s confident his players are dialed in on improvement and winning even when he can’t see what they’re up to.

“Because that’s the conversation in the locker room,” Sarkisian said. “That’s the conversation when they’re back at their apartments or dorms when we’re not there. It’s on their mind. And I think that’s a good thing. That us being the best football team we can be is on their mind. And what they need to do to make that happen is on their mind. And so again, we’re four practices in. We’ve got a ton to work on. But I think we’re making the right strides, we’re going in the right direction that way.”

Sarkisian shared a moment from a recent practice that embodied the attitude and hunger he’s describing.

“We were doing a special teams competition drill,” Sarkisian said. “And a young player made a mistake, kind of a — let’s call it, potentially could’ve hurt another player by the way, the technique that he used. And before myself or coach Banks could even say anything to him, man there was like a flock of wolves that just kind of, ‘That’s not what we do,’ ‘That’s not how you do it.’ And so as highly competitive as we are in our intent and the way we’re practicing with the intensity, they’ve learned now how to do it.”

Sarkisian continued: “And I think that’s the beauty of it. That they’re coaching one another. And that’s the leadership that I was talking about at the first press conference in that, we don’t — there’s not everybody looking around for one or two voices to say something to a guy when he’s not right. We’ve got a multitude of guys doing that, and I think there’s a real positive to that for us.”

And a handful of practices into spring with a squad that should have the goods to push for a College Football Playoff spot in the SEC in the expanded playoff, Sarkisian is feeling good about this Texas squad and the internal yearning to be a dominant, winning team.

“I think we have a very hungry football team,” Sarkisian said. “These guys are highly, highly competitive. Our practice are extremely competitive right now.”