Three things from Sark: Recruiting, Liona Lefau's play, and Matthew Golden's throw

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian had his regular Monday press conference this morning, and touched on a few of the major topics surrounding the No. 1 Longhorns’ matchup with the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs in Austin on Saturday night.

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“We’ve got a heck of a challenge this weekend against Georgia,” Sarkisian said. “Very good football team. I’ve got a ton of respect for Coach Smart and the job that he’s done at Georgia. They’ve somewhat been the standard of college football here now for the last six or seven years.”

Before the game gets going, it’ll be a huge recruiting weekend

The spectacle of No. 1 Texas vs. No. 5 Georgia will draw the attention of the nation, and included are some of the best high school football players in the country.

Over 40 of the top prospects in the 2025, 2026, 2027, and even the 2028 classes are set to make their way to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

This game likely garnered attention from recruits dating back to when the 2024 schedule was released. And Sarkisian and company are ready to showcase the best of Texas football to scores of athletic guests.

“We invite a ton of recruits to games and different things, but every year naturally you have those one or two games that recruits really want to come to,” Sarkisian said. “They circle it even in the summertime, and this was one of those games. I think we’re fortunate that we got a night draw and that it’s a night game.”

There will be a lot going on in Austin, between the Formula 1 race and post-race concerts featuring international superstars like Eminem and Sting. Hotel prices might be soaring, but so too is excitement for the weekend with a top-five football game at the middle of it.

“Great opportunity to showcase what our program is about, great opportunity to showcase what our fan base is about,” Sarkisian said. “But also during the day, great opportunity to showcase what the University of Texas is about and what the City of Austin has to offer.”

Liona Lefau makes a statement

David Gbenda started the first five games of the season at Will linebacker, but Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski elected to make a change for the Oklahoma game. Liona Lefau earned the start and was part of Texas’ strong performance.

This was something Inside Texas wrote about pregame Saturday. The switch was a move made in anticipation of what Oklahoma would offer on offense. To say it was effective would be an understatement.

Lefau notched four tackles including a tackle for loss and allowed for the Longhorns to deploy Anthony Hill Jr. in a way that set up his 11-tackle game.

“We looked at the first five games heading into the bye and really felt like the combination of Liona and Anthony together would free Anthony up to do a few more things, which I think is what we saw,” Sarkisian said. “It allowed (Hill) to rush the passer a little bit more and use his versatility with Liona having a real understanding of the defense in the middle there. I think that combination was good for us.”

The breakthrough from No. 18 comes as no surprise to those in the program.

“He’s one of the top one, two, or three culture teammates that we have in that locker room,” Sarkisian said.

Matthew Golden‘s throws need some improvement

As a team on Saturday, Texas was 21-for-31 for 229 yards and one touchdown with one interception. Quinn Ewers was 20-for-29 for 199 yards, the touchdown, and the pick.

The other two attempts came via wide receiver Matthew Golden.

Golden was 1-for-2 for 30 yards. His first attempt in the second quarter fell short of a wide open Ryan Wingo. His second was hauled in by Gunnar Helm, who leaped over three defenders to grab the football with under five minutes left .

“Matt, we had both those plays up, obviously, in the game,” Sarkisian said. “The first one, we felt way better about the play. We knew that as a staff. Clearly, Ryan Wingo was open by about 15 yards and it wasn’t a great throw. The second one, I wanted to give him a chance to redeem himself a little bit, and I had a feeling they might cover it a little better. Which they did. It was a heck of a catch by Gunnar Helm down there to the one.”

That first one was more than made up for, but Golden still got some flack for it.

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“If anybody wants to know, when I saw the throw it reminded me of something,” Sarkisian said. “It reminded me of 50 Cent’s first pitch. We showed that after that throw to get a chuckle out of the guys.”