After media 'break,' Moro Ojomo excited to show Texas football made needed improvements

In the spring, Texas defensive lineman Moro Ojomo raised quite a few eyebrows inside Moncrief, in Austin, and around the rest of the country when he offered extremely candid remarks about the Texas football program. Normally, player media availbilities last no more than 15 minutes. On April 7, Ojomo talked for over 20 minutes.

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A lot of what he said about the program and its shortcomings rang true, which caused some backlash among national voices when Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Ojomo wouldn’t be made available for some time after his session. The sentiment being, “oh, a kid speaks the truth, in the NIL era of all eras, and you silence him?”

There was some validity to that (despite Ojomo previously saying he cares little about NIL), but what that overlooked was the fact that Ojomo revealed certain scheme details Sarkisian likely didn’t want publicized, and called out several players by name. That’s something he didn’t have license to do.

On Monday, Ojomo made his return to media settings. He started with a sense of humility. “I needed a little break,” he joked. He later said there were certain things that “need to be a little more indoor.”

After the quick mea culpa, he spoke about how the previous team culture he criticized in April had improved.

“The energy and the effort and the accountability and the team vibe is different,” Ojomo said. “The defense feels energetic. It’s amazing, I definitely feel that.”

Ojomo explained the offseason process that led to that cultural improvement. He spoke about how the Longhorns would get into groups of around 10 and share more about themselves than just the simple name, hometown, favorite movie, etc. “Whether it be a life story, what’s a distraction to you, something like that,” Ojomo said.

“I think it makes you play for your brother more,” Ojomo said. “In anything in life, if you know that person’s story, that person knows you, and you guys are closer, you want to do more for that person. You want to help that person out more.”

Those April criticisms of previous teams? In the past. Ojomo spoke about the need to leave the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Longhorns in the rearview mirror, as Sarkisian often mentions.

“Whatever happened last year, this is not the same team as last year,” Ojomo said. “We don’t have the same players. We know our coaches more. We’re running the same offense and defense for another year. It’s a completely different team.”

Even with the improvement of the team culture, the more important improvement the program and its fans want to see is from the defense. Texas was historically bad last season in multiple metrics. Ojomo believes the effort put forth in the offseason has helped them make the necessary changes.

“I think guys have been working really hard this offseason to become a better defense,” Ojomo said. “We have a lot of really good energy. I think some of the practices that we had, it almost sounded like we were at the stadium with the fans just because of how into it the defense was, and how much joy and passion we had.”

Unlike his previous media appearance, Ojomo praised several players. He highlighted freshmen Jaylon Guilbeau and Kristopher Ross. Barryn Sorrell received accolades for his development. Even linebackers DeMarvion Overshown, Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, and Jett Bush were hyped up.

So too were coaches, like special assistant to the head coach Gary Patterson. Offensive coaches also gained Ojomo’s attention throughout the offseason, like running backs coach Tashard Choice and wide receivers coach Brennan Marion.

The tenor of his few minutes with the media on Monday was a complete 180 from his session in April. In those months, it seems as if Ojomo saw the changes he believed were necessary. Now, he’s ready to prove it on the field with his teammates rather than talk about it with reporters.

“We’re so excited for the season upcoming, and we’re ready to go, ready to play,” Ojomo said.