SEC Media Days: Don't let Sarkisian's past fool you, he's a defense-first coach
AUSTIN (KXAN) — "There's a belief in playing great defense in Austin, Texas."
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said he often gets pigeonholed as an offense-centric coach. It makes sense to a certain degree, since he was one of the most prolific college quarterbacks of the 1990s at BYU, and he has previously served as an offensive coordinator in college and the NFL. But he truly believes that championship teams start on the defensive side, and he couldn't stress that enough Tuesday at the Southeastern Conference football media days.
"All those great teams that I've been part of, we had great defenses," he said. "When you start playing the elite teams against the elite teams, you need to find a way to keep them out of the end zone. We've been proud of the work we've done defensively. We've grown exponentially from one year to the next — when we've needed to improve in areas, we've attacked them."
Most notably, it was the vast improvement in pass defense from 2023 to 2024. It went from being mediocre at best to one of the top units in the country, and Sarkisian said defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski has "done a tremendous job" but not just providing continuity and steadiness, but also integrating new coaches and their strengths seamlessly.
One of the country's best linebackers returns, junior Anthony Hill Jr., to help lead the defense, along with senior defensive back Michael Taaffe and sophomore edge defender Colin Simmons. The Longhorns have the star power and talent that's causing national pundits to anoint the 2025 Texas defense as the best in the preseason.
With most of the talk about this year's squad focused on quarterback Arch Manning, and rightfully so, Sarkisian said this is perhaps the deepest defense he's ever had.
"We've got a multitude of guys who can fill in there and play, and play at a high level," he said. "It's probably one of the biggest misnomers about me ... we believe in playing great, hard-nosed defense."
Hill said that communication will be integral to the unit's success.
"I feel like we have to communicate better than we did throughout the years," he said. "And we have to execute in some of the big moments like we had last year."
He also said younger players will have to step into some roles that they may not feel comfortable with at first and build their confidence so they can contribute later in the season.
"It's our job as leaders to carry the momentum and push some of the younger guys and make sure they have the confidence to go out there and go play when they have to go step up in the moment," he said. "So we kind of just want to take the young guys, get them in the film room to make sure they have the momentum and the confidence to be able to go play."