Steve Sarkisian: "This doesn't just happen, right? It took 12 months of hard work."

A few minutes after Jordan Whittington‘s collegiate career ended, he was still heartbroken by the Texas Longhorns’ 37-31 loss to Washington in the College Football Playoff. At the same time, he was also proud of the effort he put in throughout his time in the Texas football program.

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“I can honestly say on camera that I gave this university everything I had every day for 365 days,” Whittington said. “I think a lot of our guys did. I’m proud of them. We came in, went through a 5-7 season, went through all these seasons, and now look at this. Just to be 12-2, a lot of people aren’t there.”

Of course, Whittington wasn’t completely satisfied. He wanted his journey to continue in Houston with an opportunity on Monday against Michigan for the national title. “To say that, we still shouldn’t have had two losses in my opinion,” Whittington added.

But he knew he gave it his all, and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was appreciative of everything Whittington, Longhorn seniors, and countless others gave throughout UT’s renaissance 2023 campaign.

“The resiliency our team showed in that fourth quarter to find a way to have an opportunity to win the game I think is indicative of the character that we have on this team and the men that we have in that locker room,” Sarkisian said postgame. “Those guys are fighters. They fought together. As bleak as it looked out there, they never gave up hope and they believed.

“I think that’s how you give yourself a chance at the end. I feel for them because I know how much they poured into this entire season.”

Linebacker Jaylan Ford, who could have entered the 2023 NFL draft but returned for the Longhorns’ final season in the Big 12, echoed Sarkisian’s sentiments.

“I just told them I was proud of them,” Ford said. “Kind of like what coach is saying, this whole year we sacrificed a lot in order to build this team into the way we wanted it. And I think like he said at the end of that (game), we went all the way up until the last play. I’m just proud of my guys for never giving up. Not once did I ever believe that until that clock hit zero that we didn’t have a chance.”

Those sacrifices alluded to by Ford were referenced by his teammates throughout Texas’ 2023 campaign. Sarkisian spoke about some of the major events that helped the Longhorns leading up to his 12-2 season, including difficult offseason conditioning in both frigid cold and one of the hottest summers on record.

The offseason sessions and their intense difficulty were intimated at by Texas players who would laugh and deflect when questioned about the specifics of those workouts. Their reactions, including one last one from Xavier Worthy following the Sugar Bowl, were enough to indicate how grueling the time between the 2022 Alamo Bowl and kickoff versus Rice was.

And Sarkisian said it’ll take something similar for the Longhorns to reach a 12-team College Football Playoff during their upcoming first season in the SEC.

“This doesn’t just happen, right?” Sarkisian said. “It took 12 months of hard work. We have to make sure complacency doesn’t set in.”

Sarkisian won’t have players like Ford or Whittington next year, nor will he have T’Vondre Sweat or several others who were critical leaders on the Big 12 champion Longhorns.

He might have Quinn Ewers, who though he didn’t make a determination on his future in the leadup to the Sugar Bowl did say this after the game.

“I do know that we’re going to work as hard as we can to try to be back,” Ewers said. “That’s all we can really do, is attack the offseason the right way and just continue to build this team to what it’s capable of doing.”

That’s not a official declaration from Ewers that he will be back, but it is revelatory of the attitude the Longhorns have heading into their first year in a new conference where the level of competition is sure to step up.

That will be needed, if not required, from anyone wearing burnt orange and white after the successes achieved by this year’s team.

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When you come to this school, it means something,” Whittington said. “You got to ask them if it means more to you. You can’t be selfish. Just be a warrior.”