Steve Sarkisian reflects on difficult journey to this point for players that stayed at Texas

Texas is back to being one of the elite programs in college football. The Longhorns won the Big 12 title this season and have a chance to compete for the national championship for the first time since losing in the national title game in 2009.

While everything is going well now, there have been plenty of difficult moments for Longhorns players who aren’t freshmen in recent years.

Texas combined to go 13-12 in the first two seasons under Steve Sarkisian and was 15-8 in the two years before that.

Sarkisian recently spoke about how happy he is for Longhorns players who stayed the course and were rewarded by winning the Big 12 and reaching the CFP.

“What a cool scene,” Sarkisian said. “As I was standing there, I kind of took a moment to look at Jaylan Ford, T’Vondre Sweat, Jordan Whittington, JT Sanders, those guys that signed up for something totally different than when we came.

“The journey has been difficult at times, and it hasn’t been all celebrations and cheers. There’s been some tough, tough moments. So to see those guys be able to have that emotion yesterday on the field after the game and that emotion right there that they’re competing for a national championship, that’s why they came to the University of Texas.”

All four of those veterans have been a huge part of the success Texas has had this season.

Ford is the leading tackler for the Longhorns with 88 — 31 more than the next closest on the team. He also has 10.5 tackles for loss and a pair of interceptions.

Sweat is one of the top defensive linemen in the country and has recorded 40 tackles, 8 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks on the year.

Whittington has recorded 34 catches for 387 yards on the season, while Sanders has 31 catches for 502 yards.

Steve Sarkisian is happy for those four and others who came to Texas with the goal of getting the Longhorns back to being an elite program and now have accomplished that goal.

“In your mind, when you go to college and, ‘Alright, I’m going to go to Texas, I’m going to be competing for a national championship.’ Well now, that’s a reality,” Sarkisian said. “Now we get a one-game season here, and if we’re good enough we get another game season. So now it’s just putting forth the right effort and energy to try to make that happen.”