Is Texas ready for the SEC? This season will tell us all about the Longhorns' progress
Everything that happens within the Texas football program this season should be viewed through a certain prism: Is this helping or hurting the Longhorns along their path to the SEC?
Granted, the Horns aren’t moving to their new conference until 2025. Maybe it will be earlier than that, maybe not. But it’ll be here soon enough.
As things stand today, Texas is a 5-7 program. The Longhorns start the season unranked. Not many are picking them to even reach the Big 12 title game. The Athletic went so far as to predict the Horns will go 4-8.
Four-and-eight?! That’s not good enough to compete in the SEC, much less win it.
So this is the challenge Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and the Horns must accept in 2022. This program must make dramatic improvements with whatever time it has left in the Big 12. If not, there will be some painful days ahead once this prideful program joins the SEC.
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“We’re going to have some growing pains,” Sarkisian said Monday in a casual way meant to be a clear warning signal about 2022. “You know, not only are we relatively young at quarterback, we’re a relatively young team.”
No. 1 Alabama will start Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young at quarterback this season. Texas is starting a redshirt freshman, Quinn Ewers.
No. 3 Georgia had 15 players drafted off last season’s national championship squad. The Bulldogs reloaded with the nation’s third-best recruiting class, according to 247Sports' composite rankings, two spots ahead of the Longhorns. Texas didn’t have anyone drafted.
It’s taken Texas A&M a decade, but the Aggies head into this season No. 6 nationally with legitimate SEC title hopes. No. 19 Arkansas, No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 Ole Miss are all eager to make more headway this season, too.
There’s no sense sugarcoating it. The Longhorns have a long road ahead. But at least there are signs of optimism.
Three freshman starters on offense
Sarkisian spent his first full recruiting cycle going after more linemen — more “big humans,” as he calls them. He landed seven offensive linemen and six on the defensive side. Get them on the field now. Five-star Kelvin Banks Jr. is projected to start at left tackle while fellow five-star DJ Campbell is slotted at right guard. Cole Hutson can play guard or center. Don’t forget about tackle Cam Williams, a 6-foot-7 behemoth who can block out the sun.
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Just imagine how Texas’ offensive line might look in three or four years if these linemen can start or play well as freshmen today.
“They’re very locked in, and they know what they came to school for,” senior right tackle Christian Jones said. “They always have football priority, and yeah, they’re more mature.”
On the offensive line, Sarkisian said Thursday, “I feel comfortable up front.”
If the line can develop, Ewers should gain confidence. Sarkisian said Ewers “can make all the throws” and there’s no reason to limit the playbook.
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No program can make any headway without solid quarterback play. And no fan base should sit around waiting for another blue-chip recruit, like 2023 commitment Arch Manning, to show up and save the day.
There will be a tremendous learning curve. But Ewers can lean on the talent and experience around him, such as running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson and receiver Xavier Worthy. What if Ewers winds up being a three- or four-year starter?
“A first, he was a little shy, but he’s really opened up to us, and that's kind of built confidence into the O-line,” center Jake Majors said. “We want a quarterback who’s going to lead us, not just tell us what to do, but actually lead us and have a positive mindset out there when things don't go right.”
Better defense, better communication
The Longhorns were No. 100 nationally in total defense last season. The SEC had five teams among the top 31. Hard-nosed defense is the only way to survive Saturdays down south.
In early August, Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski was asked about last season’s pass rush. “What pass rush?” he said in deadpan fashion.
Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown will be used off the edge, but someone must step up and help. Maybe it’s Justice Finkley or Ethan Burke, both freshmen.
Pass rush is critical since Sarkisian wants the secondary to play tighter man-to-man coverage. The head coach likes long-armed athletes, such as 6-foot-3 Ohio State transfer Ryan Watts and 6-1 veteran safety Anthony Cook. Those who are vertically challenged can make up for it with breakneck speed.
“He doesn’t want us to give other teams space,” said 5-10 warhorse cornerback D’Shawn Jamison. “He wants us to get up in their face and show what we can do.”
Said Sarkisian: “In the secondary, I feel really good about our ability to understand our coverages and to communicate. We’re communicating at a really high level comparatively, especially to where we were a year ago and even in spring.”
How much impact will former TCU head coach Gary Patterson have in his new role as UT’s special assistant to the head coach? It remains to be seen. But it’s hard to imagine Patterson not giving input on the defensive game plans.
If Texas could just finish in the top half of the Big 12 instead of eighth in total defense, it would make a sizable difference.
Understanding what’s at stake
Over the past decade, Texas players have gone through August training camp talking about how “connected” this year’s team is compared with last year’s bunch. Stories about backyard barbeques and Ping-Pong tournaments filled up reporters’ notebooks.
Nobody rallied around those feel-good anecdotes after losses to Kansas in 2016 and 2021.
Sarkisian told ESPN that the players knew not everybody was all-in last year. “I think they could feel it, and they wanted to weed out some of the warts, some of the bad apples,” he said.
That’s a huge reason Sarkisian turned the roster over. The Horns have 35 new players this year on the 85-man roster.
“The vibe of the team is great,” backup running back Keilan Robinson said. “It’s a great team vibe. Everybody jells well with each other, like people hang out outside the facility together who you wouldn't even think would hang out.
“Sometimes we’re happy to see each other, and at 6 o’clock in the morning, you ain’t happy to see nobody,” Robinson added. “But we just put our heads down together every day, and we just go to work. So it’s a great vibe.”
Winning a conference title takes everyone pulling in the same direction. If this program can’t handle the stresses of the Big 12, how will it handle the SEC?
Sarkisian spent all last season talking about competing for championships. Even after last year’s October loss to Oklahoma, Sarkisian said, “I’d love to get another crack at these guys, hopefully in December.”
Now he’s talking openly about youth and “growing pains.”
“But I’m a realist. We’re going to have some growing pains, but that’s OK,” Sarkisian said. “I still think we’re a pretty good football team. And I think we’ve got some really key veterans at key spots that that can help alleviate some of that.”
If Texas’ arrow is pointed up by season’s end, then Sarkisian has won the battle of perception. The Horns can use a winning season to springboard into recruiting and possibly another top-five class.
Alabama didn’t become No. 1-ranked heavyweight Alabama overnight. Here in 2022, the Horns could sure use some positive steps in that direction.
Contact Brian Davis by phone or text at 512-445-3957. Email bdavis@statesman.com or follow on Twitter via @BDavisAAS.
Louisiana-Monroe at Texas
7 p.m. Saturday, Royal-Memorial Stadium, LHN, 104.9
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Use SEC benchmarks as guideposts to gauge Texas’ progress in 2022
