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Sark Admits These Are Texas' Biggest Problems
00:15:19
Sark said himself these are the issues holding Texas back.
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- [00:01]
A
My mom inspired me to dream big and work hard. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America proud to be the Official bank of U. S Soccer and FIFA World Cup 2026 bank of America NA Member FDSE welcome back, everyone, to the quick hitter show presented by Inside Texas on the Inside Texas YouTube channel. I'm your host, Evan Vieth. On Monday, coming at you live with Nash talks Texas. Before we get into it, talk about a little bit of what's been Steve Sarkin's problems with his teams in the past, especially 2025. Make sure you're going over to Inside Texas and checking out this awesome flash sale we've got going on. For just $1, you can join the Inside Texas family and then get 50% off your first year. It's just an awesome deal. Nash, with, you know, Texas football approaching it being August in a few days, this is really the time to go over to Inside Texas and check out what we got going on, including what I wrote about today, which was Steve Sarkeesian and kind of the big problems, the big issues he's had with Texas football and. And that mainly being in 2025, Nash, when Texas went 9 and 3 in the regular season, missed out on the playoff. And it's. We can jump right into it started with this pretty big blurb, and you'll see throughout this article about what he talked about of things that needed to get better for the long run. So the first thing was, was culture, Nash. And he said culture is a big deal for us, but our culture's got to get developed historically in the summertime to get ready for the season. I failed our team a year ago by doing it that way. He did it in February, or he should have been doing it in February is what he's been saying. But the summer is when he started it last year. And it, it just didn't really create a cohesive environment for his team right now. It seems like from all we've heard, Nash, that's the exact opposite of what's happening in 2026.
- [01:37]
B
Yeah, it's a little bit of a slippery soap, though, when you start, like, you know, going on to the culture deal because then if it doesn't work out, it's hard to, you know, go back to that because then did you fix it or not? You know, all that stuff. So we'll see. But I mean, as of right now, it does feel like the. The change has been for the better.
- [01:54]
A
This is one of those things that we just can't tangibly understand. How much, how much better it will be until really week two against Ohio State and even more so as you get deeper into the year in that nine game SEC slate. So it's not really one we can focus on, but it's one that he's focused a lot on. It's the first thing he brought up. But you know, really what, what the crux of it is. And Nash, I don't know if you agree with this, but I feel like Sarkeesian has really put a lot of emphasis on assist this offseason. That more than anything, more than the O line penalties, whatever he may bring up, it's really the run game that hampered them the most last year. I think of the losses at Florida and Georgia where they were under two yards per carry. He said, it goes without saying, we've got to become a, we've got to become a better run football team. We did not run the ball to the standard and the capabilities of what it is at the University of Texas and you know, 90th in rushing yards per game. 80s and explosive runs. It was a big weakness last year. Do you think with what they've done on the O line and with the running backs, they've created an environment that's going to expand to explosive, more run plays and just a better run offense overall?
- [02:54]
B
Yeah, I think we got more athletic running backs back there in the backfield. I've been, you know, trying to resist some of this offensive line, you know, burn orange Kool Aid, if you will. But it does feel like we've gotten some pretty good offensive lineman like those two dudes can block. Yeah.
- [03:10]
A
And that would be Melvin Siani at right tackle and Lauren Seymour left guard, which, you know, that kind of brings us right into our next. Next point, which this is one that Sarkeesen's made a lot, is that the run game is the most important thing for, for improvement for this team. But really the way you improve the run game is by making everything else better around you, which that includes Arch Manning at quarterback and what he can do with both his legs and his arms. But, you know, having wide receivers that threaten the safety and keep them back and making sure they have to allocate a lot of defensive resources to a Cam Coleman and having a better O line, one that can pass pro better but also can move in the run game. And here's exactly what he said. We can make that better in a variety of ways. You got to get better up front as an offensive line group. You have to have capable runners behind them to do that. You got to provide weapons on the perimeter that people have to deploy to guard against and you've got to have your schemes going in the right way. Do you think that just overall with what he's done in totality with his offense, all the players he's added this offseason, some of the tough choices he's had to make, that it's, that it's resulted in the best result it could have for the Longhorns.
- [04:11]
B
Yeah, ultimately I think we upgraded at running back position. We upgraded at the wide receiver position. The one area that you could say there's still a question mark is the tight end position. I don't, I don't feel like the, obviously you had Nick Townsend. It's just going to depend on how, you know how much Nick Townsend has developed as a pass catcher or Amari Winston. But that's the only skill position room that I feel like, you know, you don't have a clear upgrade over last year.
- [04:38]
A
Yeah, I think Jack Andrews was a player that was not even so much misutilized but just didn't have the opportunity we thought he would because of the way the rest of the offense played. And at least with this year's tight end room more so than anything. Nash, like if Michael Massunas and Spencer Shannon are able to step up, those are just guys who will be able to block and make the run game play better than maybe, you know, Andries is not the most efficient blocker. Last year when Townsend or Jordan Washington were in, they were just younger players who hadn't quite developed that, that set and that skill set and that, that ability to do it consistently down, down. Though Townsend had some kind of highlight block plays moving forward. Of course explosive plays are on his mind and we're talking about Steve Sarkeesian here. That, that is the crux of his, of his offensive scheme and what he, he believes can make them a national title contending team. And the explosive plays weren't there last year. Nash, I mean think about the way that they found their big chunks. It was really screens to Ryan Wingo for most of the season that was getting them, getting them points downfield and, and that wasn't deep balls that were thrown and completed. That wasn't rushing attempts that were done well. That wasn't really screenplays to anyone else but Wingo. Just 10 plus, 20 plus yardage was not a part of this Texas scheme last year. And that needs to change. Do you think that with Coleman on the outside it can maybe unlock more of what Wingo and Mosley do as well as having that asset there because I believe out wide is where the Longhorns need to schematically find more explosiveness.
- [06:00]
B
Yeah, I think the, you know, having Cam Coleman is going to add another layer to the top, to the top end. Like Cam Cole was leaving. He had guys at Auburn with a five yard gap between his defender, but he had to keep on u turning because the quarterbacks that they had out there couldn't throw the ball past 40 yards. I think part of the, the big explosion issue, explosiveness issue was really born from the lack of a running game. There was no threat, so defenders weren't getting sucked down and you see that a lot for Steve Sarcasian's explosive plays. So I think it was more running game issue. But I do think that the passing game is gonna, I think all these, you know, areas of the field are going to benefit themselves.
- [06:40]
A
Yeah, I put it down in this article here that, you know, it felt like a problem with every single group. It didn't feel like one player was, was hurting that and you could start with Arch Manning if you want to. And he had accuracy and efficiency issues. He couldn't hit some of those easy drag routes that could have gone for 10 plus yards. And also not every deep ball was right on target and right online and led the correct way. But sometimes if your pass protection can't handle an under center play action or any sort of deep developing route, how are you expecting Manning to hit Wingo down the field? Or even if it was just copy and pasted Coleman onto the team. If he was in 2025, he still probably would have struggled to find open receivers down because of the players that were around him. So big, big picture for Sarkeesian. It's. We had so many problems last year at so many different position groups. There's a reason you've seen a transfer in pretty much every single one right outside of quarterback. Two new running backs, a new wide receiver, a new tight end, two new offensive linemen as well, some depth players at all those other positions. Just a big focus on changing the offense more than anything. It wasn't even that that the offense could have been improved upon with the same players. I think Sark last year really feels like compared to this season, he just had the wrong guys out there.
- [07:49]
C
Do you agree?
- [07:50]
B
Yeah, I mean I, I don't think the Steve Sarcasian left last season said I'm gonna let my better players go and let them get, get off, get off the team every year. Steve, sarcasm's reevaluating reevaluating. And I think part of that player personnel, you know, part you, you have to reevaluate a lot sooner while you're still playing. I mean then that little gap in December after the conference championship weekend's over and then, you know, you head into the ball game because you need to know which guys are coming back. Entertainment. I think that that plays a, you know, large factor in who you're putting out there on the field in the ball game. But so I, I think that like you look at a click locket who, he, he had some good run there. I don't think that Steve Sarkeesian was going into this postseason saying, you know, let's let these other guys leave and we'll, we'll get. So we'll, we'll take a loss there at that position.
- [08:43]
C
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- [09:37]
A
And I just look back to the way the draft played out. Like I think the highest drafted player from the offense last year was sixth round pick something around there, D.J. campbell or Jack Andrews who went in the seventh. So just not a lot of talent that went to the NFL. And either way the ones they let go in the portal kind of got replaced by these true NFL difference makers first round pick types. Of course this is going to get brought up and everyone is going to think about this. This point of view from Sarkeesian got to minimize penalties. We've got to fight the urge of playing behind the change. And I say fight the urge because I think there's an urge to some of the penalties that we get. So we've got to minimize Those penalties and of course, Nash, we can talk for hours about what that means and at the end of the day it just won't matter. Penalties are a thing that really show up. It's hard to practice against them. They happen if you're undisciplined. They happen if you don't teach the right way of doing things. And that's been a problem for Shahan even in his best teams. Right? 23 and 24, those teams also had penalty issues, especially up front on the offensive line. He did explain to the SEC media days group that he, he's tried different things. He noted that they're putting in a new punishment system and punishment's not quite the word, but instead of, you know, harping on the individual, that's, that's committing these penalties or even just the whole defense slash offense, it's position group based. So say Colin Simmons had an offsides in practice. Everyone else in the edge room feels that a little bit more. And so there's maybe a little bit more advocacy within that. But are there any ways for you personally in the off season that like, you can feel more confident about the way a team commits or doesn't commit penalties in the season? Or is it just, you know, gotta wait and see?
- [11:11]
B
Just gotta wait and see? I mean, like you noted, the. Even our best teams have gone to the cultural playoff. They've had some penalty issues and I feel like those did kind of bite us on those playoff games. Any, any yards loss is just, that's, that's going to wind up, you know, being negative for you. But last year, 132, 132nd in the nation after, you know, 2023 and 2024, they didn't feel that bad after last year. Being in the 70s still wasn't good. Right. But just 132nd Nation is just not. You're just not that. That's not winning football.
- [11:47]
C
Right.
- [11:47]
B
You're, you're giving up games. And honestly, one of the games that might go a different way if we don't have so many penalties is the Florida game. We had a ton of penalties in that game.
- [11:57]
A
Yeah, I, I think the Florida game is kind of the crux of all of these things we've talked about. Right? 2 yard per carry rush game, not a lot of hope downfield until like the fourth quarter really when Sar Founds or Arch found some of those random ones on his own. The O line was just terrible at left guard. And like you said, penalties were everywhere. I mean that was just. It felt like they were Always behind the sticks. And, and that's something that he notes here. Like you have to fight that urge of going ahead, making the play before it has to happen. And I wonder how much of Texas's third down problems, which we'll get to right here, came from that, which was. And I'll skip over the defense one because I want to get to third down first. How, how much of the problems with third down last year, Nash, do you think we're mostly just getting behind the chains on, on the offensive line with either a penalty from them, you know, five, 10 yards from a holder, a false start, or from them just not allowing the players to play, having Manning get sacked or running back tfl. Do you think just a better offensive line and the two additions that they made is enough to feel a lot more confident in third down play?
- [13:01]
B
Yeah, I mean it's, it's one of these tough ones because when you look at, I think Texas was one of the most, was one of the teams that had the most snaps from like second and 14 or something like that, or second, second. Like we're playing second along a lot more than any other team. And then we start doing that, you're looking like, okay, well now you're gonna be behind the chains on third downs and then that's going to be a, you know, big issue for getting your first challenge first downs. So I do think that those were, you know, largely born from penalties. I mean, felt like every single game we were watching one of the offensive linemen in the keys on a key drive jump off sides or, you know, get a false start right and right as we're, you know, getting some big first down play. So the timing just never felt right on that too. And then I think that the red zone, where you're looking at the red area, I think that that was more, you know, a lack of a power run issue for the University of Texas, which is we did not have that back that's going to, you know, run into that wall and get us two to three yards, maybe one. But that to last, you know, to the credit of last year's team, that feels like a Steve Sarkeesian issue that's, you know, been across multiple years of Texas ever since we lost Roshan Johnson in that role.
- [14:21]
A
Yeah, yeah. I do think he notes it here and I noted a little later in the article that, you know, the red zone problems was almost a lot of it was turnover on downs problems weren't anything. The touchdown percentage wasn't terrible, but the scoring percentage and the field goals. They just weren't there because Texas lost a lot of those fourth down battles. So the Longhorns, it just felt like offensively, so many key issues that all revolved around the central idea that just the personnel that was out there last year was not good enough for the Longhorns, especially a left guard. But even with an inexperienced quarterback and some running back and wide receiver issues, we'll see if Sark addresses these problems. And he noted some other things about the defense that I put in this article. You can read more about that on Inside Texas, but we wanted to focus today on on the offense and how that actually, you know how Sark is the offensive coordinator slash play caller can fix that himself and what he did in the offseason. Hope you guys enjoyed. Make sure you're going over to Inside Texas.com and checking out that awesome promo we talked about earlier. So Texas football is right around the corner, Nash. I mean, I think fall camp is a week away at this point, so you can join for $1. Before that, get 50% off your first year and read about this awesome2027 Texas roster and how it probably should be better on a lot of those margins. Nash, thanks as always. We'll catch you guys next week on the Quick Hitter show presented by Inside Taxes.