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Texas coach Steve Sarkisian on Recruiting Balance In-State Vs. Going Out-of-State

On3 imageby:Justin Wells•07/15/25
Steve Sarkisian
Steve Sarkisian (Joe Cook/IT)

About an hour after Lawrenceville (Ga.) five-star LB Tyler Atkinson committed to Texas, head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke about the balances with in-state recruiting and out-of-state recruiting from the SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Tuesday.

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So how does Sarkisian balance recruiting, from in-state prospects to out-of-state prospects? In Texas, you always want to keep your frontline talent home, but when building a national championship caliber program, you have to get the very best talent in the country, regardless of location.

“It’s hard I believe now more than ever,” said Sarkisian. “Sixteen years ago, this thing called Twitter started. And I really think around 2008 and 2009, the landscape of recruiting started to shift. The ability to connect to players directly, for coaches and for all those that cover recruiting, dramatically changed. Because of that connection, players began to travel. After Covid, it accelerated it more.”

It gave prospects the opportunity to see more of their opportunities at the next level.

“Players felt ‘if I want to go see it, I can go see it,'” Sarkisian explained. “Because they spent a year (2020) where they couldn’t go anywhere. Now you add revenue-sharing, publicity, NIL, and people have resources to reach out. But you can’t take them all.”

It’s more than just going and getting the best players. It’s finding the best fits as well.

“Today we try to make very strategic decisions because of our roster,” said Sarkisian. “We think we have a great roster this year, we have a really good roster next year. But I also try to foresee where we might have issues or gaps coming down the pipe. And that’s where we place our emphasis. We can’t recruit them all. I’d love to take every player in Texas so they can stay here and be a Longhorn, but that wouldn’t be feasible.”

So how do you find that perfect balance?

“The reality is we have a great brand, with great exposure which has been huge for us,” Sarkisian said. “And some of the best players in the country have a real interest in us. But we don’t try to recruit all those either. But we do narrow our pool down a little bit, and based off the ability, person, and family, and we recruit them to the best of our ability.”

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