Texas Finally Has the Roster Steve Sarkisian Has Been Building Toward

The Texas Longhorns have amassed one of the strongest rosters the 40 Acres have ever seen ahead of the 2026 football season. That is thanks to the careful planning of head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Indeed, the 2026 season seems to have been specifically targeted as an 'all-in' season by Texas football's brass since quarterback Arch Manning committed to the Longhorns. This can be inferred not only from Texas' aggression this offseason, but also from its approach to last year's offseason.

The Longhorns have done a similar multi-year plan before under Sarkisian; however, it did not pan out. Still, they were able to apply the lessons they learned in that effort in order to finally build the roster that Sarkisian has been waiting for.

How it is All Coming Together For Texas in 2026

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While the 'all-in' mentality of the 2026 offseason can be plainly seen through Sarkisian and his staff's aggression in acquiring the third-best portal class in the country, a closer examination of previous off-seasons reveals that 2026 has been the season to 'get it done' for several years.

The reason for this is simple: it will be Manning's fourth season of college football.

The 2025 offseason had a focus on acquiring talent for the long haul rather than immediate impact players. Texas brought in the No. 1 high school recruiting class in the country but only the 23rd-best portal group.

Even more telling, six of the nine non-special teams players that Texas signed from the portal had multiple seasons of eligibility left. This season, just nine of Texas' 19 non-special teams transfers have multiple seasons left, and at least three of those players are likely to forgo their final seasons for the NFL draft.

This pattern has been seen before, as Sarkisian attempted a similar tactic with his last starting quarterback, Quinn Ewers.

Texas brought in the third-best high school class and No. 48 portal class in the 2023 offseason before bringing in the sixth-ranked high school class and No. 5 portal class ahead of 2024.

The plan failed, as Texas would lose the Cotton Bowl that season to the Ohio State Buckeyes. However, that taught Sarkisian a lesson: next time, go even harder.

Flash forward to 2026 and the Longhorns not only brought in their strongest transfer class ever, but they also made a necessary coaching change in swapping defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkoski for SEC veteran Will Muschamp. Now, Sarkisian has the roster and the staff he has always sought; he just needs to get the job done.

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