What does Steve Sarkisian think Texas achieved during the spring?

After 14 practices and a spring game, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian believes his team got better. But how?

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“I think we got better in the simple fact of that we had a lot of new faces on this team this spring, and we lost some really good players that are going on to the NFL,” Sarkisian said Saturday. “And we’ll find out this upcoming weekend where they all go, guys that were really impactful players for our program. Between a lot of these midyear high school kids and the transfers that showed up in the program, we had to recreate ourselves this spring. I thought that the buy-in was there.”

Texas welcomed 25 players into the program in January. Eighteen were members of Texas’ No. 6 signing class, while seven came from the transfer portal. For a coach that emphasizes culture, and carves out significant parts of his program’s weekly schedule to maintain that culture, disseminating that culture is one of his top priorities.

Sarkisian wants his culture to drive competition. He told the media after the Orange-White game that he believed Texas’ spring was extremely competitive and that practices were hard, tough, and physical. For a team with over 20 new faces, Sarkisian saw that as a sign of progress toward creating the culture necessary for his program’s first season in the Southeastern Conference.

“I almost feel like we got a head start on that because of the way they competed in spring,” Sarkisian said. “Then even at the end, the way they competed today. As soon as the game was done, you could see that camaraderie in the middle of the field. That’s the joy in coaching this team. It’s highly competitive. There’s a lot of like-minded individuals that are driven, that are focused, that want to be great. I think that’s starting to take on the personality of this team. This team is driven. They’re focused. They want to be great. That all takes hard work.

“That’s when you’ve got to lean into one another to continue to work, to continue to hold people accountable, and to be great. Mediocrity is not an option in this program. We’re trying to be great. We have to work like that every day. I think spring set us up for that because that’s the way they approached the 14 practices and the spring game today.”

Of course, those are big picture areas where Texas improved. Sarkisian touched on aspects of his offense and his defense that he saw level up during the spring.

On offense, Sarkisian spoke highly of his quarterbacks. Quinn Ewers played just a few snaps during the spring game, ceding the stage to Arch Manning and Trey Owens. Both of the freshmen signal-callers made the most of their extended opportunity in front of fans, lighting up the scoreboard and the opposing defense during the scrimmage.

“I think for us, we’re very fortunate at the quarterback position to have a third-year starter, to have the backup that we have, and I think everybody got probably got a glimpse of Trey Owens today,” Sarkisian said. “Not to take a shot at those who put stars on quarterbacks, but I trust our evaluation. We can probably recruit any quarterback in the country, but Trey Owens is really talented and he can make a lot of throws. Very encouraged with where we’re at the quarterback position.”

On defense, an area where Texas has lacked in recent years was where Sarkisian saw some potential game-changers emerge.

“I’ll say something coming out of spring that maybe didn’t show up quite as much in the spring game, but our EDGE pass-rush is real,” Sarkisian said. “Trey Moore is a real pass-rusher. Colin Simmons can affect the quarterback. We know about Ethan Burke and Barryn Sorrell. Colton Vasek in the second half of spring has really stepped up his game. Zina (Umeozulu) is another impactful player.

“We’ve really tried to address that position, and I think it’s paying off for us and will play off for us in the fall.”

Sarkisian said that May is his “longest month of the year” because it’s the only month where he’s not around players every day. Sarkisian is giving his players time off from the program, trusting them to stay in shape, do some drills together, accomplish what they need to in the classroom, and enjoy life as a UT student before intense preparation for the season starts.

When it’s time to report, Sarkisian hopes his “120 sons” return to the 40 Acres ready to continue to improve their game ahead of the 2024 season.

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“When June comes, we’re going to get back to work,” Sarkisian said.