"Put our players in best position to have success": Texas HC Steve Sarkisian opens up about process of 'adapting' to maintain 85-man roster

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian says he's adapting to having an 85-man roster. Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that a newly proposed athlete compensation model would leave teams with an 85-man roster. If that is the case, it would practically eliminate all walk-on players as roster sizes had not been capped before and many teams had rosters with over 120 players.

With the roster potentially going down to 85 players, Sarkisian had his unique view on the subject.

He said at the SEC spring meetings on Tuesday:

[0:40] "The challenge of that is adjusting. I've said this all along, we’re in this era of college football where we have to continually adapt. For the moment I got this job at Texas, we were still almost operating under the old ways.

"Here comes the transfer portal, here comes NIL, here comes conference realignment, now here comes a new settlement, now there’s talk of potential roster size being reduced. But through it all, you have to adapt." [1:19]

Sarkisian currently has 35 walk-ons on his team. Under the proposed new rules, they would all be off the roster. He also believes that could hurt some interesting stories in football about walk-on players earning a scholarship and becoming impact players.

Steve Sarkisian says he won't spend time complaining

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian isn't worried about what rules the NCAA implements as he stays focused on his program.

On being asked why subjects like the transfer portal or the NIL don't seem to bother him, Sarkisian said:

[7:50] “Change is inevitable. I think we have to change with change. As long as we’re all playing by the same rules, it just is what it is. I try not to spend a lot of time complaining. I’m more solution-oriented.” [8:15]

Texas will open its 2024 college football season at home against Colorado State.