Why Texas is set for a 'statement year' in 2023

Texas has a chance to make quite an impression as it leaves the Big 12. The Longhorns — now in the third year under Steve Sarkisian — could be in position to make a statement by becoming a contender prior to its arrival in the SEC gauntlet, according to On3’s J.D. PicKell.

PicKell argued Texas has the pieces in place to make a run. Quinn Ewers is back for another year as the starting quarterback, and he has Xavier Worthy as one of his top weapons once again. One of last year’s top transfer portal pickups, Isaiah Neyor, is also looking to make an impact at receiver.

The sense is the Longhorns’ window is open. Now, as PicKell said, it’s about capitalizing.

“I think the sentiment you’d like to leave or the statement you’d like to make if you’re a Texas Longhorn fan, or maybe internally at Texas, is that you have to deal with us when it comes to talking about the College Football Playoff and the conference championship race in the Big 12 and the SEC,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “There’s so much about Texas that has been brewing now for a couple of years. It’s year three for Sark. We say it all the time on here, there’s no more excuses that you’re making.

“This is the year where you say, ‘OK, our window’s here. We’ve got an experienced quarterback, we’ve got a year three culture, we’ve got a bunch of weapons on the outside. … They got a lot of pieces there. This is the year for them [to] truly show what they’re going to be under Steve Sarkisian.”

On June 16, PicKell put out a poll on his Twitter profile asking if a Big 12 title would mean Texas is “back” in 2023. The results were interesting — 67.2% said no and 32.8% said yes. Multiple Texas fans weighed in on that debate, as well, and PicKell pointed out that this year is still important to what Sarkisian is building in Austin.

It’s now about getting back to the top. Once the Longhorns get there, then it’s off to the races.

“This is the start of the new foundation,” PicKell said. “So much of what Steve Sarkisian has done at Texas has been working to get Texas out of the hole that they were in, and now getting them to a place where they can compete for what they want to compete for. This is that year where you take the first step, taking back what you believe is yours at Texas. So a Big 12 title I think is attainable.

“But for Texas, the statement they’re trying to make is, ‘You now have to deal deal with us when you talk about teams that are competing for things across the college football landscape.’ No more, ‘Texas is down,’ ‘Texas is you know a thing of the past.’ I’m not here to say, ‘Texas is back,’ but I do think there’s somewhere in the middle and you’d like to believe they’re somewhere past the midway point after the results of this coming season. So Texas, absolutely a statement team in 2023.”