Texas may not have its identity yet, but they will be fun in 2025

Every year, the college football cycle forces teams to reinvent their identities and personalities. It’s the nature of a sport where players can play a maximum of five years in a program, and those who perform at a high enough level will be gone before they even graduate.

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Last season, the identity of the Longhorns was obvious from the jump. They were a team built around a veteran defensive trio of defensive backs, all originally from the Austin area. That, alongside an offense returning its left tackle and quarterback for the third year, created an easy building block of leadership and identity for the Longhorns.

But two-thirds of that trio are gone, as are Kelvin Banks and Quinn Ewers, and Texas’ team has evolved into something completely new in 2025. It’s the start of the Arch Manning era, and the final year this defense will play alongside Michael Taaffe and Anthony Hill. But more important than anything, this roster is fun.

“I think the personality of this team is a unique one. These guys are very fun,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “They’re fun in a way that they do a lot of things with a lot of confidence. They do it with a real sense of vigor. They’re hungry, they’re tough, but yet they can have fun doing it along the way.”

This came from today’s press conference, the inaugural one of a 2025 season that Sark expects to be a special one. Throughout the day, whether it was from Sarkisian himself or the players we spoke with, that confidence was palpable. You could feel that these players have their eyes set on revenge this weekend and know they can achieve it.

Texas will face off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus to kick off the year—a rarity to see such highly ranked teams play as early as the first week. Naturally, you wonder if the Longhorns have that identity set in stone, like last year’s team did, or if they will need to find it on the gridiron this Saturday.

“I think we’ll find out more after this game who we are. I’ve said this before: it’s a little bit of coach speak, but I think it’s true that one game is not going to define our season, but we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves naturally,” Sarkisian said. “We want to win, but it’s not going to define us whether we win or lose, but we’re going to get a ton of information.”

Sark believes that he’ll find the team’s personality after this game, and once it reveals itself, he plans to accentuate that identity for his players.

When talking to players, it’s clear that they see themselves as that fun-loving group—one that knows how to flip the switch between entertainment and delivering on the field. That’s something edge rusher Colin Simmons learned from Terry Crews in his most recent commercial appearance.

“The whole front seven—it’s not even just the defensive line, it’s the whole defense. The linebackers are bringing the energy, the safeties are bringing the energy, the D-line is bringing the energy,” Simmons said about the way the defense harnesses that energy.

Simmons said acting in that commercial, as well as having events like the recent magic video that went viral, helps take the team’s mind away from football.

Unfortunately for Simmons and the rest of the energizers on the team, there’s no entertainment left for the Longhorns. Practice is underway for game week, and by this time Saturday, they will have gone toe-to-toe with the reigning national champions.

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If you want to watch for one thing from this team when they take the field for the first time, keep an eye out for the ones having fun. They’ll be the ones making the big plays.