Golden: Longhorns welcome those lofty expectations (and all the hate)
Expectations.
You can meet them head on with fire in the belly or you can shrivel up like an old prune and wither away into mediocrity.
Steve Sarkisian knows this is the year for the Longhorns to make some real noise, and before you say it, I know that’s the tune around these parts most every year. But something about 2023 just seems to hit differently.
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Texas has plenty of talent at the skill positions, especially on offense with quarterback Quinn Ewers one year removed from his first year as a starter. He will take the field against Rice on Saturday at the helm of an offense with the most playmakers of any in the 14-team Big 12. On the other side, the defense has a chance to be better than the 2022 unit, which gave up only 21.6 points per game.
After taking a step forward with eight wins in Year 2, Sarkisian obviously took a long look at the boxes that have been checked in the talent department but understands that even the most talented teams can fall short of the desired destination.
It’s why he admittedly got after his most experienced players in the spring and the summer when needed. He wanted to send a message to each player that no on is immune from getting challenged.
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Expectations are high externally — my guy Kirk Bohls actually has them in the College Football Playoff — and internally, where Sark is telling his players to challenge themselves every day, in walk-through, at practice, in the weight room, etc. He's encouraging them to embrace any hate and get in attack mode. There is a different feeling on campus in the preseason.
“The reality is we’ve put in a lot of work over three years. Those older players have been here for this journey,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve been here for 5-7. They were here a year ago after a couple of tough losses and a couple of big wins. And now, how do we want the movie to go this year and what are they willing to do to set that stage and write that script so that the movie can play out?”
To that end, Sarkisian is embracing the hate directed toward his program, even if its come from the Big 12 commissioner’s office.
“You just can’t sit back and keep taking punches and it’s OK,” Sarkisian said. “At some point you’ve got to hunt. You have to punch back and fight back, and it’s what we’re imploring our leaders to do.”
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Any step up in win total will start behind center, where Ewers is leaner and has a second full camp under his belt. We'll soon know whether that additional season will leave a sweeter taste in the mouths of a fan base that’s been thirsting for some real postseason outside of a biennial appearance in the Alamo Bowl.
Ewers must prove it on the field, but he has an obvious air of confidence about him and is ready to embrace the expectations that will come with being a second-year starter behind an experienced offensive line.
“It’s always the same, year in and year out,” Ewers said Monday. “I think we’re obviously always looking to win the Big 12 and see what happens after that. It doesn’t change for us. That’s our bull's-eye, and we’ll go from there.”
Right tackle Christian Jones said his coaches are calling it 12 one-game seasons, and the first season comes Saturday. Somehow that second season — the one in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 9 — might be a bit more amped up.
Along with a much bigger set of expectations.
The journeyman quarterback
Daniels knows DKR: JT Daniels has never played for the Texas Longhorns, but he has played only three fewer games than Ewers at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Daniels will take the field for the third time in Austin, this time as Rice's quarterback.
Last season, he completed 20 of 38 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown as the starter for West Virginia in its 38-20 loss to the Longhorns. In 2018, he hit 30 of 48 for 322 yards in a 37-14 loss as the starter for USC.
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To hear the Horns speak of the six-year college veteran is almost akin to people my age remembering the good old days when VHS ruled. Wideout Xavier Worthy was a high school sophomore in Fresno, Calif.
“I remember when I was younger, I used to watch him and Amon-Ra St. Brown playing together,” Worthy said. “He’s a good player.”
Daniel has been around for what seems like forever in college football, but he has played only 32 games.
The Horns want to make him 0-3 in the 512 in No. 33.
Happy to be here
Sarkisian’s favorite time of the year: You can’t fake a smile as big as the one Sarkisian was wearing at the season’s first game-week presser on Monday. It’s football season, and the Texas coach couldn’t be happier.
Sark lives, breathes and loves this sport.
“This is my favorite time of the year,” he said. "I'm a fan of football. I'm a fan of college football. I'm a fan of high school football. I'm a fan of the NFL. We've got coaches on the team whose sons are playing little league ball. It's that time of year, so that part always kind of perks me up."
Jones and his teammates have noticed Sark has a little pep in his step.
“It permeates throughout the whole facility,” Jones said. “Having Coach Sark with the energy that he has and the energy that we all have … I know that we’re all ready.”
Hey, Christian: We are too.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football team's expectations, demeanor feel different this year
