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    Jeff Howe
    Steve Sarkisian often touts how much he loves the pageantry of college football.
    The best example supporting Sarkisian’s position is how seriously the Texas head coach takes the program’s rivalry games. For Sarkisian, it’s not just another game whenever the Longhorns line up against Oklahoma or Texas A&M.
    At SEC Media Days in Tampa, Sarkisian didn’t mince words when he was asked what it’ll be like to face former Texas wideout Parker Livingstone whenever the Longhorns and Sooners meet in Dallas on Oct. 10.
    At the end of the day, Sarkisian said, personal feelings get put to the side when the Golden Hat is on the line.
    “I hope we kick his ass,” Sarkisian said. “I mean, it’s the Red River Rivalry. You know what I mean? He chose to go there. He’s on the other side. That’s the way the game goes.
    “At the end of the day, it’s competition,” he added. “After the game, I’m sure I’ll give him a big hug. Before that, we’re trying to beat his ass. That’s the way it goes.”
    The recently-revived series with the Aggies is no different. Even Sarkisian’s admission that he “was not happy” that the Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in-game operations staff played a clip of Mike Elko referring to Texas A&M as the state’s flagship program on the video board after Texas secured a 27-17 victory last November shed light on what’s allowed Sarkisian to enter his sixth season on the Forty Acres with a combined 5-2 record against the program’s two primary rivals.
    “Emotions run high in those games,” said Sarkisian, who put the kibosh on a potentially volatile on-field celebration after the Longhorns’ 17-7 win over the Aggies at Kyle Field in 2024, which had the potential to get out of hand. “We had a team that was trying to think about going and planting the flag two years ago and I wouldn't let that happen. I respect the game of football and I respect college football and I respect the football gods and there's a way to go about our business and there's a way not. Rivalries are great, but we've got to be able to fight the emotions that come with the rivalry.”
    With all due respect to Arkansas, who the Longhorns have faced just eight times since the Razorbacks left the Southwest Conference for the SEC in 1992, Sarkisian and other Texas coaches are judged by what they do against Oklahoma and Texas A&M, for better or worse. While Sarkisian hasn’t been perfect in his tenure, he’s more often than not had his squad ready for the games that matter to the burnt orange faithful.
    Sarkisian has won three of his first five meetings with the Sooners, with two losses that were there for the taking. The Longhorns had a 21-point first-half lead in Sarkisian’s Red River debut and took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter before suffering a 55-48 loss; Texas also had a 30-27 lead with 1:17 to play in the 2023 game, which Oklahoma won on a last-second touchdown, 34-30.
    Even with the two losses, Sarkisian’s 3-2 record is only topped by Darrell Royal and Fred Akers for the best five-game start to the Red River series among the nine Longhorn coaches in the AP Poll era (since 1936) who’ve coached at least five games in the series. Royal and Akers both won four of their first five games against the Sooners; Akers won five of his first seven (5-4-1 overall record), while Royal won eight in a row (1958-65) and 12 of 13 (1958-70) en route to a 12-7-1 mark against his alma mater.
    Sarkisian's three wins in Texas' last four clashes with the Sooners ended Oklahoma's dominant stretch of 10 wins in 13 meetings. The Longhorns' historic 49-0 rout in 2022 is the largest shutout victory in series history and is part of Texas' 136-43 scoring advantage in the last four games, three of which the Sooners have failed to score a touchdown.
    Among the nine Longhorn coaches in the AP Poll era to coach at least two games against the Aggies, Sarkisian, Royal and Akers are the only three to enjoy a 2-0 series start.
    Nobody should expect Sarkisian to rival Royal’s 17-3 mark against Texas A&M, which included winning streaks of 10 (1957-66) and seven (1968-74) games, respectively. Nevertheless, Sarkisian has a good start in potentially joining Royal, Mack Brown (10-4), Ed Price (4-2) and Dana X. Bible (8-2) as the only Texas coaches in the AP Poll era to finish their careers with a winning record against the Aggies.
    Include Sarkisian’s two wins over Arkansas (a 2-1 record after a forgettable 40-21 loss to the Razorbacks in Fayetteville in 2021) and he’s 7-3 in rivalry games through his first five seasons. On top of building championship-caliber rosters, Sarkisian can set Texas up for continued success in those games if his team keeps walking the fine line between playing with emotion and having it spill over.
    “I think that's why we've had success in some of our rivalry games, whether it's A&M or OU or Arkansas,” Sarkisian said. “I think we do a good job of managing our emotions. That's a real challenge when you get into games like that.”
    Jeff Howe
    TAMPA, Fla. — The best sign of Colin Simmons’ growth as a player, a man and a leader are his personal goals for the 2026 season.
    After making it known that he was aiming for Kiki DeAyala’s single-season school sack record (22.5 in 1982) heading into 2025, Simmons isn’t concerned with splattering his name all over the Texas record books. Instead, Simmons would rather put a number on the wall signifying how the Longhorns fulfilled their promise in what’s expected to be his last season on the Forty Acres.
    “Honestly, my individual goals are the team goals,” Simmons said at SEC Media Days in Tampa on Thursday. “It's the team's success. Winning. Winning a national championship.
    "Everything that comes with it.”
    Thanks to a furious finish, which saw him racking up 10.5 sacks over the last eight games of the season, including a career-high three in a 16-13 overtime road win over Kentucky on Oct. 18, only Jackson Jeffcoat and Alex Okafor have gotten closer to DeAyala’s seemingly untouchable mark than Simmons did last season. The second-team All-American and first-team All-SEC defender’s 12 sacks tied him with DeAyala (1981), Steve McMichael (1977) and Tony Degrate (1984) for the eighth-best single-season sack total since 1975, which is when Texas began tracking sacks as an official statistic.
    While Simmons was noticeably pressing early in the season, the sacks started to come when his focus shifted from piling up numbers to loving the game. The approach also helped Simmons come into his own as a leader with a style that’s positioned him to be everything Will Muschamp needs him to be in the first season of his second stint as the program’s defensive coordinator.
    “Being myself, showing my teammates that they can just be themselves,” Simmons said when describing his leadership style. “They don't have to change. They don't have to impress nobody.  People are going to have opinions regardless of what it is, good or bad, but at the end of the day, as long as you stay true to yourself, nothing can move you.”
    The only person who should be able to move Simmons is Muschamp, who has unleashed top-notch edge rushers like Simmons throughout his career as a defensive coordinator. With 21 sacks through two seasons, Simmons is nine away from joining DeAyala, Degrate and Tim Campbell as the only Longhorns to record at least 30 career sacks, highlighting the Duncanville product’s pass-rushing prowess.
    Steve Sarkisian hired Muschamp to ensure the Longhorns play defense with more of “an aggressive, in-your-face, tighter coverage kind of approach to things,” he said Thursday. Simmons stands to benefit the most from the leadership change; according to Pro Football Focus, Simmons’ 74 coverage snaps were tied for the 26th most among FBS edge defenders and the fifth most among edge rushers in the SEC.
    Simmons attacking downhill toward the line of scrimmage more often should be a net positive for the Texas defense. The mindset change Muschamp promotes, and the physicality he demands, have Simmons champing at the bit to show what he can do in the new scheme.
    “I'm not going to lie, I'm happy to be part of this defense,” Simmons said. “I'm happy to be coached under him.”
    Even then, Simmons remains steadfast in maintaining a team-first approach to what could be a historic junior season.
    “Representing the Longhorns is like representing the name on your back,” Simmons said. “You've got to represent it with pride because at the end of the day that's your family and you're representing your family. Just like I represent my mom, I’ve got to represent the Longhorns.”
    Jeff Howe
    TAMPA, Fla. — Trevor Goosby didn’t mince words at SEC Media Days when asked to describe what went wrong when Texas tried to run the football in 2025.
    “Sometimes, first and foremost, we weren't physical enough,” Goosby said. “Obviously, we weren't moving bodies the way that we should have. And then, sometimes, I felt like we were just kind of playing as five individuals rather than five as one.
    “It was just kind of five offensive linemen out there rather than one offensive line unit,” he added. “That's kind of how I felt about last year.”
    There were indeed issues along the offensive line, which played a significant role in the Longhorns managing just 137.8 rushing yards per game (90th in FBS and the program’s lowest output since 2017) and averaging 4.19 yards per rushing attempt (No. 84 nationally and the worst on the Forty Acres since 2018). However, multiple parties must be held responsible for the worst season on the ground for an FBS offense led by Steve Sarkisian since his first season as Washington’s coach in 2009.
    Sarkisian overhauled the running back room’s personnel with Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers from the transfer portal and Derrek Cooper from the high school ranks. A leadership change has also made a difference for a position group that lacked consistency and explosiveness last season, with Jabbar Juluke’s arrival injecting the offense with some much-needed juice.
    “Coach Juluke is always bringing that energy with the running backs,” Goosby said. “I can really feel it from the running back group. They're always bringing that energy.”
    Goosby likes what Sarkisian and the front office did to elevate the tight end room with the additions of Michigan State transfer Michael Masunas and former Michigan co-offensive coordinator Steve Casula.
    “Really, just kind of a development for not only the pass game, but also the run game, and just getting more physical,” Goosby said. “We're getting a lot more out of those guys, for sure.  Coach (Jeff) Banks and Coach Casula have done a great job of really bringing those guys along.”
    Sarkisian and Kyle Flood utilizing the transfer portal to beef up the offensive line has helped bring the unit together, Goosby said Thursday. Melvin Siani has proven himself to be “a really athletic tackle” who “is really quick on his feet,” according to Goosby, who described June arrival Laurence Seymore as “a really tenacious, athletic run blocker (and) pass blocker.”
    Will the changes made after taking stock of a largely forgettable season on the ground lead to Texas having an attack capable of taking pressure off Arch Manning and that can be counted on to execute in critical situations? To ensure everyone in the offensive line room understands how unacceptable last season was and what they need to do as a group to help put a better product on the field, Goosby has made it a point to lead the charge.
    At the end of the day, Goosby said, turning things around will require his fellow linemen to get their minds wrapped around winning the line of scrimmage battle by moving another man against his will.
    “I think it's more of a mental thing; mentality thing rather than a technique thing,” Goosby said. Obviously, we're going to do our technique drills and do our individual and stuff, but for me personally, sometimes I'll bring the guys in and we'll watch plays where it didn't work because of us. Plays where we needed to be more physical and just pushing that narrative to the guys.
    “That's kind of the biggest thing that we've done this offseason.”
    Jeff Howe
    TAMPA, Fla. — Arch Manning’s goal coming out of the 2025 season and entering his second campaign as QB1 on the Forty Acres was simple.
    “Stay present,” Manning said while making the rounds at SEC Media Days in Tampa on Thursday. “Take it one day at a time.”
    For Manning, who was under a white-hot spotlight before he ever took a snap in a Texas uniform, that’s easier said than done. Still, Manning has grown while learning how to deal with life in a fishbowl ahead of what figures to be his last season with the Longhorns.
    He believes it’s the biggest difference between the player he is now and who Manning was before leading No. 1-ranked Texas into last season’s opening game on the road against reigning national champion Ohio State.
    “I think I've become more present,” Manning said. “I've obviously matured. I think going through those rough times, I learned a lot about myself and I've become a better man because of it and, hopefully, a better player.”
    Manning joked that he isn’t aiming for a repeat performance against the Buckeyes, when he threw for 170 yards, one touchdown and an interception on a 17-for-30 afternoon throwing the football in a 14-7 loss. The loss was part of a turbulent first half of the season for Manning, whose play inspired an article published by "The Athletic" openly pondering if Manning was college football’s first flop.
    After a 16-13 overtime win over Kentucky in which the offense posted season-low totals for total yards (179), yards per play (3.3) and first downs (eight), Manning was, statistically, one of the least productive quarterbacks in the SEC. His 207 passing yards per game entering the team’s next game against Mississippi State ranked 71st nationally and 13th in the SEC among 16 qualifying quarterbacks. He also ranked 91st in FBS and last in the conference in completion percentage (60.3), while his 140.4 pass efficiency rating ranked 63rd nationally and 11th in the SEC.
    Things changed, however, after Manning led a furious second-half rally in a 45-38 overtime win over Mississippi State the week following the woeful performance against the Wildcats.
    In November, which included wins over Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Texas A&M (along with a loss to Georgia), Diego Pavia and Trinidad Chambliss were the only SEC quarterbacks with more passing yards per game than Manning's 286.8. Over the last four games of the regular season, Manning completed 62.2 percent of his passes and tied Chambliss for the third-most passing touchdowns among SEC quarterbacks (nine) while throwing only one interception.
    Coming off a turnover-free performance with 376 total yards and four touchdowns in a Citrus Bowl win over Michigan and fully recovered from postseason foot surgery, Manning isn’t changing his live-in-the-now mindset in the face of sky-high expectations.
    “I'm not really worried about the outside world,” Manning said. “That's what I'll continue to try to do.”
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