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The eight players Steve Sarkisian is looking forward to seeing this weekend

by: Evan Vieth09/04/25
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Kobe Black (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

As much as we, as writers, can speculate who will play and who won’t from game to game, sometimes head coaches give the best anecdotes on what to expect.

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It makes sense—they are the ones running the team, after all—but sometimes it can be easy to overlook what head coach Steve Sarkisian says about his guys and how it translates to the field.

He joked today on his Zoom presser that that’s what happened with Graceson Littleton this offseason.

“I think to everybody else, this was a surprise, but I don’t know how many more times I could have come on a press conference with you guys and referenced Graceson Littleton throughout spring ball and training camp. I kept bringing up Graceson Littleton,” Sarkisian said.

He often speaks highly of those he plans to play, whether it be Littleton, Parker Livingstone, or Jelani McDonald from a year before.

With Texas hosting San Jose State, one of the bottom-50 teams in the nation according to most power rating standards, Sarkisian knows he’ll have a chance to give some of his youngsters a run this weekend and through the rest of September.

When asked about which players Sarkisian is most eager to give run to on Saturday, he named eight specific players, four freshmen and four second-years.

“I love where Daylan McCutcheon is at. I’m excited about him. I’m excited about Nick Townsend and Emaree Winston, a couple of other true freshmen that I think have made great strides for us,” Sarkisian said. “Lance Jackson is a guy who stepped in and got some opportunities last game. I’m looking forward to seeing him more with some of the opportunities that he gets.”

McCutcheon is another prime example of listening to the coach. He’s been the first freshman receiver talked about all offseason, and he was the only one to earn snaps last Saturday against Ohio State. He, alongside tight ends Townsend and Winston, are three of the most exciting pass-catching threats who could contribute this season.

Jackson was someone who saw seven snaps on Saturday against OSU and seems very far along in the process. He’s a big defensive end/EDGE who has the size to compete in the SEC and just needs the reps beforehand to do so.

Sark also mentioned four second-year players he’s looking forward to playing this month.

“I’m looking forward to seeing more of Xavier Filsaime. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Christian Clark and Jerrick Gibson. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Kobe Black, who had some ops, but seeing more of him. So we’ve got plenty of guys that we’re looking forward to.”

Sarkisian is making it clear that he wants to see more guys emerge in this running back room, a tidbit that fans should be excited for. While Quintrevion Wisner and CJ Baxter help set the floor for this team, Texas is in the business of monitoring its ceiling with RBs, which may come from the more explosive duo of Clark and Gibson entering their second years in the program.

On the back end, Sarkisian has one of the highest-rated DB duos from the 2024 class in Filsaime and Black. Filsaime started slow in Austin, but it’s hard to keep that caliber of an athlete off the field. He played a few snaps in relief last week. Black played a decent bit against OSU, but he’s got a chance to emerge as the true second cornerback in the Pete Kwiatkowski system. Sark and PK are going to make him earn it, but the raw talent is there.

Texas is expected to play a number of its younger players on the two-deep for Saturday’s blazing hot 11 a.m. kickoff against San Jose State. These truly are the types of games where young players can make their mark to be key components as the season goes on.

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