Ja'Tavion Sanders expects Texas to 'assert true dominance' in SEC

Ja’Tavion Sanders will never take a snap with an SEC logo on his jersey. The former Texas tight end is projected to be a Day Two pick at the 2024 NFL Draft after three seasons in Austin. Sanders is thought to be TE2 in the class, only sitting behind Georgia‘s Brock Bowers.

However, now watching from afar, Sanders does have big expectations of his former teammates. How Texas handles the move from the Big 12 to the SEC is not yet known but Sanders expects the Longhorns to have a ton of success. He even thinks the program can dominate in the near future.

“It was fun playing in the Big 12,” Sanders said at the NFL Combine. “The Big 12 is one of those conferences where anybody can beat anybody. I’m glad Texas and OU is going to the SEC. Now, we can assert true dominance.”

Texas has gotten a taste of the SEC on three different occasions under Steve Sarkisian. Two of them are wildly different experiences, beginning with the beatdown Arkansas put on their old Southwest Conference rival in 2021. People in Fayetteville certainly still remember and it was a rough start to Sarkisian’s time on the 40 Acres.

And then there was arguably the high point — going into Tuscaloosa, beating Nick Saban, and earning a historic win against Alabama. Quinn Ewers arguably played the best game of his career and eventually, the victory propelled Texas into the College Football Playoff.

Alabama did get a win the year before in Austin, with Will Reichard kicking a game-winning field goal in the final moments.

Sanders was present for all of these games and went through the emotions. Three games in three years against SEC foes have carried a ton of weight for Texas. Now, eight (and maybe nine) SEC games will be on the schedule annually.

Texas will play its first-ever SEC conference game on Sept. 28 with Mississippi State coming to town. Two weeks later, the traditional Red River Shootout in Dallas against Oklahoma will take place. While the game might have a different feeling in 2024, it’s still a familiar face.

Oct. 19 is when the party really gets started. Depending on how other results shake out, we could have a highly-ranked matchup between Texas and Georgia.

If Texas can pull out a win against the preseason national championship, Sanders will be feeling pretty good about his comments.