Texas HC Steve Sarkisian expresses excitement about Longhorns' secondary group ahead of 2024 CFB season

Steve Sarkisian, who has developed a good roster for the 2024 season, is excited about his secondary group. With one of the best quarterback rooms in the country and talent powerhouses like Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers and Trey Owens, the Longhorns find themselves in a good spot heading into the 2024 college football season.

Texas will enter the season with the confidence earned from last year. They finished the season with an impressive 12-2 record and just fell short of a national championship, losing to Washington.

Steve Sarkisian's team was only the second team except Michigan that beat Nick Saban's Alabama last year, which was the Crimson Tide's first double-digit loss at home in 17 years.

Despite their impressive run in the last season, Sarkisian has been having difficulty beating other programs while recruiting the 2025 class. Sarkisian lost five high-priority recruits, including 4-star Zion Williams, Kevin Wynn, Josiah Sharma, Brandon Brown and Mayon Charles, to other schools like Oregon, FSU and LSU.

In an exclusive interview with Greg McElroy, Sarkisian expressed excitement about the 2024 season with one of the "deepest" secondary groups he has ever had, despite a slow recruiting month at Texas:

“In my opinion, this is probably the most talented and deepest secondary that we’ve had in our time here. I’m looking forward to watching these guys, because I think the continuity of the coaching staff, them having the same coaches now going into year four, has been helpful. The communication’s better.

“Well, I’m excited about the group. I think, to watch the growth of Manny Muhammad last season, to watch the growth of Derek Williams last season — both true freshmen that played a significant amount of time for us.”

---

Steve Sarkisian on Arch Manning's decision to stick with the Longhorns

Arch Manning was among the most talked-about players after the 2023 college football season, following Quinn Ewers decision to come back for another year.

Everybody expected Manning to enter the transfer portal, as Ewers' return would mean another player with no or very little playing time for NFL legends Eli and Peyton Manning's nephew.

However, Arch Manning has clarified his intentions to stay with Texas despite the transfer portal chatter. In a conversation with college football analyst Josh Pate, Steve Sarkisian gave his two cents about the situation:

"Everyone's praising Arch for staying at Texas," Sarkisian said. "He is going into year two. ... Everyone's saying, 'Good for Arch for sticking it out.' That's part of the process."

Fans will be interested to see if Steve Sarkisian's Texas carries its momentum from last year into the 2024 college football season as they debut in the SEC.