A season's worth of intensity and focus got Texas to New Orleans. It'll take even more to leave with a win.
NEW ORLEANS – Football is a difficult game. It takes a weekly if not daily toll on the human body that few other sports can replicate. It takes mental and physical focus. It takes teamwork. It takes preparation. It takes fortitude that’s tough to cultivate among almost 100 young men.
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Jordan Whittington, more so than any Longhorn, knows what the game requires. Between multiple lengthy stretches of his career missed due to injury, to difficult assignments as the slot receiver in Steve Sarkisian‘s offense, he’s fully aware of the trials and tribulations of a football player.
And because of that, he loves the game and the opportunity his Longhorns are a handful of days away from in the Sugar Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff.
“I think being laser focused is me enjoying the moment,” Whittington said Wednesday upon the Longhorns’ arrival in New Orleans. “That whole process of being locked into all this, studying film, stuff like that, I enjoy that more than the glamorous stuff. I think the majority of the team does. If you don’t love football, and all that’s entailed in football, then I don’t think you love the sport.”
To even get to this point requires a significant amount of team-wide effort put toward the things Whittington mentioned. From a training camp during one of the hottest Texas summers on record, to six straight weeks of football that included rough and tumble games with Alabama and Oklahoma, to a seven-game stretch that saw starting quarterback Quinn Ewers miss action and starting tailback Jonathon Brooks succumb to a season ending injury, it’s taken a level of focus that hasn’t been regularly seen on the 40 Acres in the last 10 years.
But this year, it’s there. It’s palpable in a way evident to team leader like Jaylan Ford.
Because Ford, like Whittington, knows what it’s like when it isn’t present.
“Our mentality has just been understanding what we’ve been trying to achieve this whole year and to go out there and actually do it,” Ford said Wednesday. “Do what it takes to go out there and play at a high level. Everybody understands they have a role on this team. I think everybody’s done a good job to take responsibility in their own role, come out each week and practice however they need to, and get better.”
What now lies ahead of the Longhorns is a matchup with the No. 2 team in the nation in the Washington Huskies. U-Dub has gone through a similar grueling schedule and has emerged unscathed.
They, like the Longhorns, left the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio one year ago looking to improve their standing and compete for a national title in 2023. They understood it would take a lot of hard work over the almost 365 days since.
And, at least on the Texas side, the Horns are appreciative of the path they’ve trodden to get to the Big Easy.
But Texas wants that path to continue to the National Championship game in Houston, and understands there’s work still to be done.
“I think the biggest part is realizing how far you’ve come,” Ford said. “Realizing you didn’t come this far just to be here and enjoy the moment, you came this far to go win a national championship and hoist that trophy up into the air. I think when you keep that at the forefront of your mind, it pushes you to be better and to keep driving until you get to that point.”
How does Texas keep driving, even when some bumps and bruises and nicks and scratches and ailments and afflictions that are months old are still having to be battled through?
Bringing the same focus, the same intensity, the same fortitude, the same teamwork that got them here in the first place.
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“Just do what you’ve been doing and stick to the plan,” Whittington said.
