University of Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian talks about upcoming season

righty um it's good to see everybody um you know this this kind of always piggybacks um media days and it just kind of lets you know football's really right around the corner and so coach of school is always great to be part of um the impact that the High School coaches have not only in football uh but but in every sport um the impact that they have in our young people um to help prepare them for um life is vitally important important so the fact that we get to be here to support that um offer encouragement and and support to them is I think big and so um but but for me it's always that kind of kind of marker about a about a week from now we're we're getting ready to go and so um I always kind of kind of count back from media days to to coach a school and then um we we got uh we start training camp and so this is this is that time of year so um looking forward to it uh Mike Craven Dave Campbell Texas football um you know they talk about straight line recruiting here a lot with thsca I mean you look at the trends and so many more guys are leaving the state not just this state but all the states why do you think recruiting is so much more National than maybe it was when when you were coming up um I think there's a lot of layers to it um you know I think social media uh access to more players for more schools you know historically back in the day you had to go to the school to to get to know the coach to get to know the kid you know it was much more difficult when they had to just call the house the home phone to try to try to get the kid now you know the reach that schools have to get the young men whether it's through text messages direct messages on social media different things ability to see their film uh film can can get shared through Twitter or any other uh format like that so I think the reach is a little bit better for the schools I think seven on seven um has played a part in that I think kids now are much more apt to go travel to play in different seven on seven tournaments around the country and so travel isn't so uh foreign to young people I mean back in the day maybe a kid would take a visit was his first time ever getting on an airplane and now I think they're just more apt to to go travel um and you know I think conference realignment to some degree has something to do with that that that players are moving around and and I think nil has something to do with that you know at the end of the day all those things adding up I'm not saying one is more important than the other but I think a lot of those things adding up to players are just more apt to to travel and to go to different schools that doesn't mean that we're not trying to keep them here we're we're trying like like crazy and myself and and all the other schools in the state of Texas and the majority of our team is from the state of Texas but you know the our job is to field the best football team at the University of Texas and so sometimes you know a player or two in state may decide to go out of state and and we have an opportunity to recruit a really good player from another state we have an obligation to the University of Texas to try to do that to try to feeli the best team what I love to have every player from here and get every the best players from the state of Texas of course but that's just not the reality right now maybe it'll get back to that I don't know we'll see um but but you know that doesn't mean we don't try and we try really hard but we also have a a responsibility to field the best football team that we can Steve Carter Yates with Dave Campbell Texas football I feel like you were one of the more vocal proponents of helmet communication uh for quarterbacks now that it's here what are some of the impacts you could foresee on offenses in college football well I I think some of that varies to the style of offense you know um you know there's a lot of talk right now that the teams that go fast that really want to go fast that this is a distinct Advantage for them because now you can talk directly to the quarterback and I I I'm holding out um on that opinion because the other 10 players still need to know what to do right and so yes I can talk to the quarterback but how do I how do I get the receivers and the linemen and everybody still knowing those plays and so would it minimize some of the signaling maybe on offense but I don't know necessarily that they're going to be able to go faster because they still have to communicate to all those people um I I do think it is um you know and for for a team like us who's very multiple uh multiple Personnel groupings formations motion shifts sometimes we go fast sometimes we huddle sometimes we're somewhere in between um it does allow us to be a little bit more efficient um to to decide what tempo that we're going to operate in or what personnel grouping that we're going to um why I like it you know having spent some time in the NFL and calling plays in the NFL is that um you can really communicate with a quarterback and sometimes just voice inflection from the coach helps the quarterback understand the importance of something in a play um it does allow you to give some subtle tips and reminders and it maybe not always be for the quarterback it may be for the running back or the Right Guard whoever that is um but I also think there's a real challenge defensively because just to think that one player on defense has a headset in um you still have to get like I said get that call to all 11 players on the field and if a team's going with Tempo that's going to be difficult to do so I just don't think we can solely rely on the helmet to you know coacht player communication that that's the end all Beall we still have to have our mechanisms in place to um communicate with with all 11 players that are on the field and whether that's signaling whether that's the signals on field once the player gets that call but um that that's that's probably the challenge and it's going to be a little bit of a work in progress because the college game is is drastically different than the NFL the NFL everybody huddles you know until two minute and guys start going no huddle in college football there's a lot more no huddle aspects to to What teams do and so the the the play caller is especially defensively is going to have to really be on point or is the team trying to go fast or not and and I think it's important that the play caller doesn't panic that that we show a lot of composure as a coaching staff to get our players the call and a timely fashion but let's not be too quick to jump to a conclusion that they're necessarily going fast and so there's layers to this thing that that we are we work through in Spring ball uh but that we're going to have to continue to work through in training camp and and really the first few weeks of the Season uh Kirk BS from the Houston Chronicle still doesn't ring a bell to me taking me a while too I'm waiting for the first time you make a mistake saying that but why does there have to be one no I'm uh your pick second behind Georgia in the preseason media poll mean anything to you flattering uh you take confidence in that you know I I I always do this exercise with the team and I I'll do it with them again and I'll I'll show the preseason poll and I'll show the um preseason all SEC team and I'll probably show four or five headlines of Articles of of how great we're supposed to be and then I'll probably show another another seven or eight uh articles or headlines or or quotes from coach sa saying we're not going to run the SEC just as a reminder that people's opinions of us before we ever even play a game really don't matter what we do is what matters and so um do I think we have a pretty good team sure I do you know and I I I didn't I didn't shy away from that at media days but at the end of the day it's not about what other people think it's not about what we say we're going to to do it's about our actions it's about the way we actually perform and that's going to be our Focus um but so it just kind of is what it is you know I think it's great for college football I'll say that I I I love preseason polls I love preseason All Conference teams and All American teams because it gives the college football fan and the pundit stuff to talk about and it keeps college football at the Forefront of what's going on and like I said I think our sport is at an all-time high from a popularity standpoint and part of that is some of this preseason stuff part of it is Media days and things of that nature so I I do like that where we fall really is irrelevant we have to go play the games and we have to perform and we have to um work through the adversity that we get faced with and we got to rely on depth and we got to continue to develop our players as the season goes on we got to keep working on our culture um and we got to make sure that we have the right mental intens the right mental fortitude week in and week out to to perform to the best of our ability yeah I was going to ask you to follow up like 2009 Texas was in the national championship game and wi five and seven the next year so you just mentioned the mental side is that something you're going to have to stress even more than usual because you're coming off such a great year well I think um you know I think from where we were as a program over the last decade to where we got to last season I think we still have a really hungry football team and I think we got a taste of what it can you know being in a playoff taste like uh but I also think the way it ended left a pretty bad taste in our mouth and so I I think we've got a very hungry football team that wants to get back um and they've shown me nothing but um the right type of work ethic the right type of mindset throughout the entire offseason throughout this summer um that I'm not I'm not too concerned with complacency you know that we've got a hungry team it's competitive it's tough It's tough-minded um but again as a coach that's my job right week in and week out to make sure that we have um like I said the right mental intensity week in and week out because physically is going to be challenging we all know that um but the mental side is something that we can control and I think that's something that we take a lot of pride in as a staff uh myself included to try to put our players in the right frame of mind from a preparation standpoint his preparation is as much or more important than the actual action of playing the game on Saturday the Jeff how Horn's 247 s you lost some uh special assistants from last year and had some uh people in support roles move on just wonder whether it was you know Scotty Hazelton or some of those special assistants or or Chris Gilbert coming back or Bill ree coming in what what were you looking for in those specific roles what led you to to hiring the guys you hired and the ability now to have more you know more coaches actually coaching and practice how much did that impact who you wanted to add in those support roles yeah I just try to be um you I when I look at openings is can they make us better than we were right and and and where are our needs and and what type of impact might somebody have in our program um you know I'll start with Chris Gilbert you know I hated it when he left I understood why he left and and and going to North Texas I understood all that but I knew the type of impact that had in our program and his relationship with the High School coaches um his relationship with the recruits and their families his relationships with the current players on our roster um he has a really good eye for me even in practice I'll bounce things off of him post practice post game just kind of the mindset where we're at as a team so I do lean into to coach Gilbert that way and it's great having him back for sure um Scotty Hazelton you know when you assess our our season last year you know one area where I think we all could agree where we can improve is in pass defense and like I said pass defense has layers to it um you know if you want to be a really good pass defensive team you got to have the ability to affect the quarterback sack the quarterback and put pressure on the quarterback make him uncomfortable if you want to be really good in pass defense you have to have enough schematic you know variety but yet be good at those schemes and and we needed that as as a staff and then you have to have the players and the Personnel that can guard people and make plays on the ball and in tight coverage and things of that nature I've always you know admired Scotty from a distance I've known his history and his track record and his connection to Gus Bradley and and Monty kein and the Tampa two stuff and then you know his connection to to getting involved in kind of the system that I knew at Alabama of of a lot of the combo cover stuff and so to bring in a guy like that um that maybe can give us a little bit more variety coverage wise that was big and then bringing bringing Bill ree on board I mean just just the expertise that he has he's been doing it a long long time um you know coach Sabin generally doesn't hire people that aren't good at what they do and if they if they aren't good at what they do they they generally don't last but one year and the fact that he was with Coach Sav more than one year and when I you know I lean into coach sa a lot and when I got his recommendation on on Bill you know we had lost a couple people um I really felt like we are we are upgrading at that spot from an evaluation standpoint not only the high school player evaluation but potential portter evaluations but then also evaluating our own roster and and where are we and he's done it at the highest level in the NFL he's obviously done it at a really high level at the college game with Notre Dame and with Alabama so I think all three of those guys are going to be impactful for our program three more oh Hanks South 24/7 um I wanted to ask you you know summer seems like there's been a lot of emphasis on the recruiting you know with everyone's fighting to get the official visits um is it important to you to maybe try to wrap things up before the or prior to the season and then be able to you know focus on things after the season when the portal opens back up or you know are you trying to get that class I guess put together before fall Camp as much as you can and with decisions that do go different ways throughout the summer is there more you know like how do you guys attack that once if kids are committed elsewhere or is there more finale to that I guess in this nil era to where you maybe move on and you know look elsewhere um I've never been to one to panic in recruiting um I think history kind of shows we usually close pretty good um as we get into the season as we get into December as we get closer to that I do believe a lot of times in the summer right now a lot of recruiting is kind of the hype machine um but you actually have to put the product on the field and you have to play you have to perform form um how you how do certain players in your program develop um that they sold you on your just like him but actually how does he play and so we we kind of believe in our process um we're definitely a relationship based operation and and we don't forego those relationships when a young man commits to another school um and I'm sure just like kids that commit to us they're not stopping talking to the guys that that are committed to us either so um at the end of the day I think we've got a pretty good process to to what we do and you know I always say I just want to make sure the kids that commit to us are committing to us for the right reasons and that they're coming to the University of Texas for the right reasons and I'm not saying that kids are committing to other schools for the wrong reasons but sometimes those things bear themselves out you know Kelvin Banks wasn't committed to us at this time when when he decided to come and he's a preseason All-American Anthony Hill wasn't committed to us at this time and he's a pretty good player for us and so over time you know we we continue to build our relationships with the players in our program um and some of them decide to come and some of them don't but at the end of the day when we assess our our recruiting classes are we addressing the needs that that on our roster um are we are we building a team that we think can be better next year than it was this year we're always trying to do those things and do they fit us you know do they fit us from a character stpoint do they do they fit us from a cultural standpoint um and are they going to be somebody that comes on onto our team and enhances our culture or are they going to be an anchor that that we have to keep yanking along and so it's not always about the number of stars they have it's about do they fit what we're about and so you know again to go back to my very first statement I'm generally not one to panic in recruiting especially in the middle of of of June and July um kind of let's let's talk in December and see where see where we land two uh Josh Newman from lonar life.com Steve as the particular um of house versus NCAA continue towards being finalized or at least go before a judge have you been given any indication of what a roster cat might look like and short of that do you have an opinion at this point no we really haven't um you know I think you know there's the the powers at be are are working themselves through that um and there's a lot of things on the table of what that's going to look like from roster cap to revenue sharing and and how how that's going to look um in the end like we can look at that as a coach I can look at that down the road and you have to because there are some discussions on that but more importantly for me is what are we doing this year right I just want to make sure I'm coaching next year when that when that comes out so you gotta kind of focus on what what are we doing this year and and how are we maximizing the team that we have this year to put them in the best best position to to to be successful and be the type of team I think we can have Coach Mike roach from 247 Sports um it feels like the recruiting calendar keeps moving earlier in the year I know this year they introduced the contacting underclassman in June now and pushing for summer Signing Day there's been some talk about that just wanted to get your take on what do you see as those scenarios are they an advantage are they you know what are the pros and cons and what are your personal thoughts on them yeah I think the um I think the visits with the Juniors um on campus that they're that they're proposing now for January as well as in Spring recruiting are a positive because so many kids now are taking official visits in the summer and it's hard to identify a personality of a kid if you've never met mom and dad and had a real conversation and a real sit down and and had some discussions with them um because at the end of the day these kids are committing very early like we like we touched on and how do you know how do you know them because at the end of the day we're held to the standard of how who they are when we get them right and so if you if you don't get to know the parents um because generally speaking the Apple doesn't fall very far from the tree and so you've got to get to know the parents you got to get to know the young men you got to be able to spend time you got to be have those dialogues with them um so that when you do get them on campus hopefully they fit your culture and what you're about I'm a little um quite frankly um hesitant on the summer signing period um because I think you learn a lot about players in their senior year um we continue to evaluate the tape into the senior season um football we're not our sport development is so critical from ninth grade 10th grade 11th grade 12th grade and then when we get them that development right for the NFL and so you know we're sometimes passing judgment on kids coming off of a junior year and sometimes even in his junior year maybe he was injured and so how do you how do you pull all that together I think I think there's an Avenue that we can get done I kind of like the calendar that we're having this year um with that signing period in early December um and then get into the portal because I still think we're protecting the high school player which I think last year the high school player was not protected where the signing date was in the middle of December and the portal opened and some schools were dropping high school kids because they were taking the portal kid I think now we're still protecting the high school kid in early December and then we can get our El into the portal um but I think I'm I'm I'm a little bit more hesitant maybe than others to to have a have a signing date in in summer when you're not even giving some kids a chance to play their senior year of of high school football all right guys