LIVE UPDATES: Texas HC Steve Sarkisian at SEC Media Days

Steve Sarkisian starts at SEC Media Days

Sarkisian, who had the Aggie War Hymn play while he was introduced on stage instead of Texas fight, starts without acknowledging it and also speaks for his program in expressing condolences and prayers for all those in central Texas.

“The standard is the standard here.”

Sarkisian: “This is a new year, new faces, new team, and obviously expectations are high for our program. I’m not naive to that. I don’t put my head in the sand, and expectations are very high. But I also say we’re the University of Texas, and the standard is the standard here. That’s competing for championships year in and year out.”

Rattling names off on defense

Sarkisian: “This is probably the deepest and most talented defense that we’ve had.” — Goes over players like Anthony Hill, Michael Taaffe, Malik Muhammad, Colin Simmons, Maraad Watson, Trey Moore, Brad Spence, Ethan Burke, Travis Shaw, Cole Brevard, Jaylon Guilbeau, Jelani McDonald, and Derek Williams are players Sark mentions.

Receivers of note for Sark

Sarkisian: “DeAndre Moore is the leader of that group who played a ton for us in the slot. Ryan Wingo was a true freshman last year who probably in a lot of other schools had more opportunities, but when you had the room we had, he was very efficient. Had a bunch of catches in critical moments for us. We’re excited about him. We brought in Emmett Mosley, a transfer from Stanford who had 50 catches as a true freshman at Stanford, who we’re excited to go along with a really good recruiting class and a group of young guys.”

Burnt orange nation

Steve Sarkisian: “I think the popularity of the Texas Longhorns is at an all-time high as well.”

Key for Texas this fall?

Sarkisian: “We’ve got to go enjoy this journey. We need to be present. We need to be present in the moment, enjoy the journey, then ultimately finish the mission. We’ve been close. We’ve been there. We’ve been knocking on the door the last two years. But to go do that, we need to take it one step at a time as we embark on the summit we’re looking for.”

Red zone offense?

Sarkisian: “Clearly, the last two years we’ve had the ball inside the 10 yard line to score to either play for a national championship or tie a game to go play for a national title. So huge point of emphasis of ours.”

Steve Sarkisian on the College Sports Commission

Sarkisian: “We’re in such the beginning stages of this thing, I think everybody is operating differently and everybody is operating differently. Everybody’s trying to navigate this differently. What are exactly the rules and are they going to be enforced? Nobody really knows.”

Sark on linebackers

Sarkisian mentions he tried to make his linebacker room into a versatile room. Mentions all of Hill, Lefau, Smith, Barnes, but adds in Spence. “We’re trying to create a room where we can get multiple looks but still stay true to who we are.”

Sark on national recruiting

Steve Sarkisian: “I think in this day and age of recruiting, one thing is players are leaving states all over the place, going to other states to go play. We’ve had a ton of players leave the state and go play at other schools. We’ve obviously made it a point to recruit more in the southeastern region.”

Sark on Arch Manning

Unsung heroes?

Sarkisian mentions Tre Wisner, a 1000-yard rusher in the SEC. He also talks about the strength and conditioning staff, the nutrition team, the academic staff. Goes into his normal GPA spiel about rising GPA coinciding with rising wins.

Sark on AJ Miwee

Sarkisian: “Coach Milwee is a vital piece of the puzzle for us for sure. We forged a great relationship at Alabama when I was the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator. Coach Milwee was an analyst on staff. He had just come from Akron, where he was one of the younger offensive coordinators in the country. When I got the job at the University of Texas, he was the first guy I hired. We had worked step by step all the way through those two years at Bama, winning the national title. Brought him on here to Texas, and he’s grown into now he’s not just our quarterback coach, he’s our co-offensive coordinator. There’s nobody I work closer with on a daily basis than AJ Milwee from the development of game plans, to the scripting of practice, to talking about play calls during the game, to recruitment of players. I think he forges a great relationship with all the guys in that room. There’s not a day or a moment in the day where I don’t feel very comfortable if I can’t do something that AJ Milwee can handle it and handle it at a really high level. We’re really fortunate to have him.”

NIL in recruiting

Steve Sarkisian says that when prospects come to visit Texas, Sarkisian and company “don’t talk about NIL or revenue sharing or publicity rights until the very end.”