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Steve Sarkisian: Maalik Murphy’s commitment to stay at Texas a product of homework and team culture

Steve Habelby:Steve Habel•04/30/23•

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Maalik Murphy (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Texas has been able to avoid the defection of players from the team in the NCAA transfer portal as the second window closes on Monday. Credit the homework done by the Longhorns’ coaching staff during recruiting and a flourishing team culture for that success, said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian.

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While the Longhorns have been very good at grabbing players looking to make a change (re: former Minnesota defensive lineman Trill Carter, who Texas added last week), they’ve also excelled at keeping their roster basically intact.

There was some consternation in the offseason that Texas would lose quarterback Maalik Murphy to the transfer portal once the Longhorns’ signed five-star recruit Arch Manning. 

Murphy, who is now finally healthy after recovering from an injury suffered in his final game in high school, showed his worth as the backup to starter Quinn Ewers with a scintillating performance in the Orange-White Spring Game on April 15 that had to whet the appetite of programs courting Murphy to leave the 40 Acres.

“I’m not surprised by Maalik (deciding to stay),” Sarkisian said Wednesday at a Touchdown Club of Houston luncheon. “I think he’s a great young man. I think he’s an awesome teammate. There’s a level of appreciation in the quarterback room and on our team for the work that he’s done and for what he’s had to overcome from an injury standpoint.

“I think people in our organization are generally happy for him that he’s able to finally go out and play and show what he’s capable of doing.”

Sarkisian talked about the culture Texas is developing within the program and how that’s helped retain players, including Murphy.

“In my opinion, we have a great culture, and it takes time to build a culture,” Sarkisian said. “Culture is organic. It’s not something you put up on the wall in your locker room. It doesn’t it’s not something on a t-shirt to me. It is organic. It’s built over time. It’s built through relationships. It’s built through love. It’s built through building people up and the people we recruit buy into cultures like that. 

Part of building a successful team is about doing the homework during recruiting on players, and Sarkisian used Murphy as an example.

“If I go recruit quarterbacks who will go to three and four or five high schools throughout their time, well then I should worry about those guys leaving when I get them to because that history is the best indicator of the future,” Sarkisian said. “And so when you look at things historically in recruiting and you really do your homework, you have an idea of what they’re gonna look like when you when players are on your roster.

“Maalik, if you really looked at his track record when he was at Serra High School he was not the frontline starter as a sophomore,” Sarkisian explained. “They had another player there that was a quarterback. Maalik bought into being a great teammate. He bought into working with that guy.

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“Inevitably what happened for Maalik is that he ends up winning a state championship his senior year, he ends up signing with the University of Texas and he’s fulfilling his dream of being a Division I college football quarterback and to ultimately trying to pursue the NFL. So I think he has a vision and a dream for what it’s going to look like for him at Texas.”

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