After on-field dominance, Steve Sarkisian's Texas star gives tour of massive Longhorns facility to ace academics

Steve Sarkisian took over as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns in 2021. He led the program to a Big 12 championship in 2023. The Longhorns then became a part of the SEC conference, where Sarkisian led them to a 13-3 campaign. They unfortunately lost the SEC title game to the Georgia Bulldogs and lost to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.

Steve Sarkisian is now gearing up for his fifth season with the program. Amidst the offseason preparations, freshman quarterback K.J. Lacey gave fans a tour of the Longhorns' facility designed to help students with academics. On Friday, they shared a video on social media where we see the freshman quarterback showing off the academic center.

Lacey started the video by showing off the UFCU Student-Athletic Academic Center's lounges. He then introduced the director of football academic services, Jeff Nelson. The purpose of the student-athletic academic center is to help these youngsters develop their overall skills to pursue different interests apart from the sport that they play.

"Setting up our guys for success in the classroom." The Longhorns wrote in the caption.

Steve Sarkisian bids farewell to quarterback Quinn Ewers in this year's draft. Thus, fans are excited to witness Arch Manning take over the reins after an impressive display of talent last season. With Manning set up to be the new QB1, K.J. Lacey and Trey Owens will be competing for the backup position.

On Tuesday, Steve Sarkisian shared his thoughts on Lacey and his potential as a quarterback.

"KJ, natural ability," Sarkisian said. "You see it all. When he knows what to do, it's a very pretty thing. When he doesn't know what to do, he looks like a guy in his seventh practice of college football."

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Steve Sarkisian talks about gruelling and difficult college football season

With the 12-team playoff expansion, the college football season has become longer. Last year, the Texas Longhorns played a total of 16 games on the field while being a participant in the playoffs.

On the 'Clean Pocket' podcast, Steve Sarkisian discussed how the longer seasons take a toll on the players and the team. He highlighted the difficulties coaches and players have to face in the changing landscape.

"Those first two weeks we were in school, he (Director of Player performance) was just working with all the new faces- the high school kids, the transfers," Sarkisian said. "We gave the returning players those first two weeks off. Think about this. They got two weeks off. And then we started winter conditioning.

"They went for four weeks without us, without coaches. I gave the coaches a couple of weeks off. We needed a break. We needed to take a break. The players probably didn't want to see us either. They were like, they just played 16 games and these guys are yelling at us." (TS-13:35 onwards)

The Longhorns have not won a national championship since 2005. Can Sarkisian break this drought this upcoming season?