Longhorns Offseason Will See a "Shift Philosophically" Under Sarkisian, Becton
The Texas Longhorns are set to begin their first spring football program under new head coach Steve Sarkisian on March 23, and Sarkisian is ready to hit the ground running in reforming his team's identity.
That begins with the head of the Longhorns strength and conditioning program Torre Becton, who help deploy a two-month program that Sarkisian described as a “little bit of a shift philosophically,” in a recent zoom meeting with fans and boosters last week.
So what will be different about the Longhorns new program? If you ask Sarkisian, it will be more about explosiveness and movement than overall strength.
“This is a velocity-based training program that really measures not necessarily so much how much you can lift, but how fast you can move the weight from an explosiveness standpoint, then clearly from a speed standpoint on the field,” Sarkisian said.
READ MORE: Sark Speaks On New Texas Staff: 'I’m Pumped'
It is a cutting-edge training program that Becton and Sarkisian both believe in and that they also think can help to prepare their new players to not only compete at the highest level but to stay healthy in the upcoming season.
"I think our philosophies are very aligned when it comes to the type of training and regiment that we want our kids to be in during the offseason, as well as in-season to prevent injury," Sarkisian said. "But also to prepare them to play at the highest level for us that way."
However, when transitioning into a new coaching staff, there is more to rebuilding a program that simply strength and conditioning. It is also about installing the new schemes, evaluating the personnel, and getting that personnel to buy in.
To accomplish those goals, the Longhorns' five-week spring program will consist of three practices per week, with the remaining possible time allocated towards installing their new offensive and defensive systems.
“One guy may be playing a safety position that might be a better fit in our system at linebacker or a defensive tackle might be a better fit at defensive end, or we might have a tight end who hasn’t played a whole lot that fits really good to our system,” Sarkisian said. “To do that, we have to allow the players a chance to be successful and put them in a position to do that.
The good news for Sarkisian is that he has solid talent on his roster heading into his initial offseason. A roster that, in many cases, was under-utilized by Tom Herman and the former Longhorns regime.
The bad news is that he is also losing a good deal of talent, both to the NFL, and the transfer portal.
READ MORE: Longhorns Roster Tracker: Texas Transfer DB Heading to SEC
But, If Sarkisian's new offseason program can have the effect that he and the rest of his staff believe that it can, he will have every opportunity to put those players in a position to succeed, and potentially vault Texas back to the top of the college football scene.
To do that, however, he will have to maximize every single player at his disposal to the best of his ability, something that Sarkisian thinks he and his new staff are fully capable of.
"We want to maximize our roster," Sarkisian continued. "We want to find a role for everybody on our roster to help us win and help us go accomplish what we want to accomplish.”
