Steve Sarkisian's "extremely, extremely scary" development leaves JD Pickell in awe of Texas' coach

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian has built up the program to be a perennial contender. Sarkisian is known as an offensive guru, which he has shown at Texas, and will prove this year with Arch Manning at quarterback.

But, college football analyst JD PicKell says the Longhorns' defensive line is a scary development for other college football teams. PicKell believes Texas' defensive line, along with Sarkisian's offense, will make the Longhorns a title contender in 2025.

"Sark has evolved in this way, and cross built his roster to still have a top-tier defensive line, a top-tier front seven. I think that in itself is extremely, extremely scary for college football," PicKell said on On3 YouTube's channel at 3:28.

"The formula you work with if you are Texas is that we just spoke to of the front seven, plus what Sark does well, quarterback guru, knows weapons, coaches Heisman winners, this is Texas, that formula in itself is indisputable, that will win at the highest-level. Win up front on defense, have a game-changing at quarterback, and you will probably compete for a national championship."

As PicKell notes, college football teams can win with a great defensive line and a great offense led by a great quarterback, which Sarkisian and Texas have entering 2025.

Ahead of the 2025 college football season, the Longhorns have the second-best odds of winning the national title at +550, which implies a 15.4% chance.

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Steve Sarkisian wanted to build a winning program at Texas

Texas hired Steve Sarkisian ahead of the 2021 season, and he went 5-7 in his first season. Since then, Sarkisian and Texas have only had winning seasons and made the college football playoff semifinals in back-to-back years.

Ahead of the 2025 college football season, Sarkisian says his goal was to build a sustainable winning program at Texas.

"When I got here, I didn’t want to be a one-hit wonder,” Sarkisian said, via On3. “I didn’t want to live in the portal — one year we’re good and the next year we’re not. We wanted to build something that could sustain and that, in my opinion, is high school recruiting. We surely have tapped into the free agent market through the transfer portal to fill needs. And I think we’ve had a really good balance there.”

Steve Sarkisian and Texas will open their 2025 college football season on August 30 against Ohio State.