Moro Ojomo has had enough of losing

Typically, a 20-year-old Texas football player in press settings repeats program talking points in some form or fashion. Not Moro Ojomo. He doesn’t just peel back the onion; he slices through it and unveils exactly what is on his mind.

On Thursday, Ojomo spoke to local media for 25 minutes. In comparison, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian’s Tuesday press conference was 24 minutes in length. Ojomo hit on a wide array of topics, including players who had fared well in Texas’ eight spring practices. But his most cogent thought, the thought that showed wisdom well beyond his two decades, had to do with the mentality he and others are trying to root out of the program.

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Last year, Ojomo mentioned there didn’t seem to be enough players on Texas’ roster who hated to lose as much as they wanted to win. In the second year of Sarkisian’s tenure, Ojomo has seen progress in that area.

“This whole offseason, I think that me and a couple guys who have been here a minute have tried to be more outward focused and worried about the team, because the team is going to need to win however many games to go in whatever round we want to get drafted in,” Ojomo said. “Working on actually being a family and a brotherhood is a huge focus this offseason.”

Those words appear indicative of too much individualism on the 2021 Longhorns, that there were too many people looking out for themselves rather than playing for victory for Texas. He pointed to T’Vondre Sweat, not as a worst offender, but as someone who made significant progress in regard to being fully bought in.

And through Sweat, Ojomo dove into the problems that have plagued Texas for half of his life.

“I think he was, not necessarily ‘F the team,’ but more individual,” Ojomo said. “I think that’s the problem with guys at this institution. If we get our team right – I think Georgia has maybe five defensive people in the top fifty prospects. You get your team right, we’re all getting drafted. I think they’re coming to that realization of if everyone in this D-line can contribute. We can all get drafted. We can all have our dreams be reality.”

Those realities have eluded Ojomo, at least as best he can remember. He mentioned the experience he had in 2018 isn’t at the forefront of his mind. Instead, the shortcomings of 2019, 2020, and 2021 almost seem to haunt him.

It’s what has him making time for others at the TANC, where Longhorn football players eat and gather. It’s what has him telling players like Jaylen Garth and Andrej Karic it’s time to grow up. It’s what has him saying more players on the edge need to play like Ovie Oghoufo. It’s what has him wanting to learn what Oghoufo and Keilan Robinson, two players with College Football Playoff experience, think of Texas in its current state.

It also has him thinking about just how challenging getting everyone on that same page like Georgia, like Alabama, like Notre Dame, is in 2022. Texas the school has its fair share of allures, but those allures can act as impediments to creating that winning football culture. They can pull a team in separate directions, whether it be something offered by the city of Austin, from Name, Image, and Likeness, or from anything else Ojomo calls the crumbs compared to the whole cake.

“They have to somehow see the 24-year-old, 25-year-old maybe signing their second contract in the NFL for $50 million as opposed to seeing the 20-year-old making $40k off of NIL, sleeping with women, drinking, and all that as opposed to, you’ve got $50 million,” Ojomo said. “You’re living in Spanish Oaks. You’re living in Westlake. Traveling when you want. You’ve got the Rolls Royce outside. That’s the life they have to see, and they have to understand that it just doesn’t happen on autopilot.”

Autopilot is how Ojomo described the last decade of Longhorn football. Essentially, disappointing season, anger, offseason, then repeat. “That’s what’s not going to happen this year,” he said.

Ojomo thinks he knows what it takes to help lead a team to the type of success he’s looking for. However, he admitted he doesn’t really remember what it feels like. That’s why he wants input from not only the coaches who have seen it, but players like Robinson and Oghoufo. He knows the info they provide will be far more valuable.

“It needs to be player-led, coaches fed,” Ojomo said. “Someone made a statement about whatever senior class changes the tide for UT is going to be extremely memorable. It’s because it’s the players. Coaches come and go. Players have to make a stand and basically be like ‘enough is enough.’ 7-6 B.S. Texas isn’t happening anymore. We have the ability. We have the talent. Get your mind right.”

Though it might be a tall task, if they’re able to get it done?

“We’re going to go win,” Ojomo said.