SEC Media Days: UF opponent Texas

[Mark Wheeler]

Courtesy ASAP Transcripts...
STEVE SARKISIAN: Welcome. It's always fitting, being part of the Southeastern Conference now, to be in Atlanta. This is where you always want to be. I just want to say we appreciate all that you do in covering our sport. A ton of respect for the job that you all have in celebrating our game.

Our game's at an all-time high from a popularity standpoint, the passion and the energy. So the job that you all do is greatly appreciated.

I think before I get started, I'd be remiss if I didn't address the Central Texas and the thoughts and prayers with those families, those communities that have been affected by the recent devastating flooding, and they'll always have our continued support. Like I said, thoughts and prayers for all affected and continued support as we go.

Year 2 in the SEC. It's gone fast. Year 1 was a great year for us. Making it to the SEC Championship game in year 1, going to back-to-back College Football Playoff Semifinals, having 12 players drafted off of last year's team, 23 drafted in the last two years, leading the country there. It speaks to the development, I think, that we have going on in our program, speaks to the recruiting that's happening.

But this is a new year, new faces, new team, and obviously expectations are high for our program. I'm not naive to that. I don't put my head in the sand, and expectations are very high.

But I also say we're the University of Texas, and the standard is the standard here, and that's competing for championships year in and year out. It didn't matter when we were in the previous conference. It didn't matter now that we're in the SEC. It is what it is.

I think there's one thing that's important for us. It's not what other people think about us; it's not what other people say about us; it's about what we do, and that's taking action and doing things the right way.

I do think we have a very hungry football team, one that is talented. I really like our roster. We've strung together now three really good recruiting classes of very talented people, but really good people that I think represent the University of Texas the right way. I really feel like we've navigated the portal well through three years, and this year was no different. I think we've filled needs on our roster where players can have an impact on our team immediately, not just to fill roster spots.

But I think this is a championship roster. Now we've got to play like a championship team, but I do think it's a championship roster. Starting on the defensive side of the ball, we've brought Anthony Hill and Michael Taaffe with us today, both All-American players for us, but it goes well beyond those two.

We've got great depth on the defensive side of the ball: Manny Muhammad, Colin Simmons, Maraad Watson, Trey Moore, Brad Spence, Ethan Burke, Travis Shaw, Cole Brevard, Jelani McDonald, Derek Williams, just to name a few, Liona Lefau.

So this is probably the deepest and most talented defense that we've had, and we've made incremental growth on the defensive side of the ball now through four years, and we're going to need to do that again. I think championships are won on the defensive side of the ball, and we've got a defensive football team we're very excited about.

From a special teams perspective, the one thing I love is that we've got all seniors. I've got a senior long snapper, a senior holder, senior punter, senior kicker, senior kickoff guy. So the experiences that they've had and what they've been through I think is going to serve us well as the season goes on. We're excited about that unit.

Then obviously offensively is where we've had the most turnover. Got a new quarterback, Arch Manning, if you didn't know. He's replacing Quinn, who had a great three years for us, but we're replacing a lot of offensive linemen. We're replacing receivers, tight ends, but that unit is really good. We're returning the leading rusher in the SEC in Tre Wisner, which some of you probably don't even know that, but I'll bring that to your attention. We get Cedric Baxter back with the addition of Jarrett Gibson, who played a ton as a true freshman for us, along with Christian Clark in that room.

The receiving corps is one we're really excited about. We've had receivers drafted in the first round the last two years' draft, but this group is really good. DeAndre Moore is the leader of that group, who played a ton for us last year in the slot. Ryan Wingo was a true freshman last year, who probably at a lot of other schools probably had more opportunities, but when you had the room we had, he was very efficient, had a bunch of catches in critical moments for us. We're excited about him.

We brought in Emmett Mosley, a transfer from Stanford, who had 50 catches there as a true freshman at Stanford that we're excited about, to go along with a really good recruiting class and a bunch of young guys, Parker Livingstone leading that charge of younger players in that room.

Then at tight end, we lost a really good player in Gunnar Helm. We brought in Jack Endries from Cal who was a great player there, with an uptick of players, Jordan Washington and Spencer Shannon, to go along with Emaree Winston and Nick Townsend. We're excited about that group.

On the offensive line, we're replacing four starters. D.J. Campbell will be the one coming back. But Cole Hudson has played a ton of football for us. We found out a lot about Trevor Goosby last year. He played in some big-time games against some big-time fronts, and we're excited about him.

But the beauty of when you have that group the way that we had it for the last few years, we had a chance to develop offensive linemen, and that's one thing that you really love to do is develop those players throughout their time and not throw them into the fire. So we're really excited about that group and what they can do.

Now, their continuity, the quicker they can gel and grow together is going to be critical.

From a staff perspective, I think one of the keys for us is staff continuity. We've had turnover position coaches, but we've had the same offensive coordinator, the same defensive coordinator, same special teams coordinator, and same head coach now for five straight years, which I think has been big for us because we know our schedule is going to be really challenging. We've got road games at Ohio State, at Georgia, at Florida, at Kentucky, which are all going to be very difficult environments to play in, not to mention playing in the Red River rivalry in Dallas every year against Oklahoma, and then playing at home against a couple traditional rivals again with Arkansas and A&M.

We'll be the most traveled team in the SEC this year, which is a great challenge for us. We're looking forward to it. But at the end of the day, I talked about the popularity of our sport. I think the popularity of the Texas Longhorns is at an all-time high as well. I appreciate our fans and their support.

We averaged over 8 million viewers a game last year on TV. We averaged over 102,000 people in attendance at DKR last year, which was fifth in the country. Our season tickets were sold out in May for the fourth straight year.

So the environment at DKR has changed if you haven't been back in a while. It's an electric atmosphere. Love our fans and the support that they give us for that.

But I think the key for us this fall, we've got to go enjoy this journey. We need to be present, and we need to be present in the moment, enjoy the journey, and then ultimately finish the mission. We've been close. We've been there. We've been knocking on the door the last two years. But to go do that, we need to take it one step at a time as we embark on the summit that we're looking for, and that's going to take great discipline. It's going to take great commitment. It's going to take great toughness, mental and physical toughness we need. It's going to take action and doing our job.

We've got the culture in place to do that. We've got the activity on our roster. These guys have grown up together. I was thinking about Arch and Ant today. These guys don't know any different in college than playing for a conference championship and being in a College Football Playoff. That's what their experience has been so far.

So it's going to take the resiliency, the confidence, and belief and doing our best when it's needed, and that's going to be late into December and into January to accomplish the things that we think we're capable of accomplishing.

Looking forward to it. Again, appreciate all that you do in supporting college football. With that, we'll open it up.

Q. I just want to ask over the last couple of seasons, the red zone offense has faltered a little bit in late-game situations, in big moments too. I just want to ask if the red zone offense being better would help push you guys over the hump to get you into that National Championship Game?

STEVE SARKISIAN: That was a good start, man. Got a couple jabs right there right off the rip. Clearly, the last two years we've had the ball inside the 10-yard line to score to either play for a National Championship or tie a game to go play for a national title. Huge point of emphasis of ours. Every year as a staff you look for areas of improvement, of where you can improve your team. As a coaching staff, that's clearly been an area for us where we want to improve and need to improve.

I think that our staff has put forth the effort to do that. I think our players recognize that. Hopefully we're good -- like I said, we need to be at our best when our best is needed, and those are two critical moments the last two years where we needed our best and we just weren't quite at our best as coaches and as players.

Big point of emphasis of ours. Hopefully next year you ask me a different question, saying since you got that resolved, what are you working on this year?

 

[Mark Wheeler]

Q. With the new enforcement arm, the CSC, how confident are you that if an enforcement is laid down on a team that they will do what's best for college football as a whole and not work in their own self interest?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Honestly, I have no idea. I don't know. We're in such the beginning stages of this thing. I think that everybody is operating differently. Everybody is trying to navigate this differently, and what are exactly the rules and are they going to be enforced? Nobody really knows.

One thing about me, I tend not to get into the hypotheticals of what might be. I tend not to worry about what might happen down the road. I try to keep my focus on what we're doing, and my focus is on our team, and that's -- the more time I spend on those things outside of our team, then I'm doing a disservice to our players and to our team.

I'm going to let the powers that be figure that out. My job is to be the best head coach I can be for the University of Texas.

Q. I was curious about the linebacker position, how strong you feel like it is. I don't know if you moved Colin around from edge rusher to linebacker.

STEVE SARKISIAN: Great question. Our linebacking room, what we've tried to do in that room -- and we'll see if it all plays out -- we tried to make it a really versatile room. We know about the versatility of Anthony Hill, his ability to play off the ball and off the edge. Liona Lefau is a steadfast player for us there. We love the development of Ty'Anthony Smith, how far he's come and excited about him. And we love the addition of Bo Barnes, the physicality that he brings and the speed factor that he brings and the size.

But we also moved Tre Moore to linebacker and brought in Brad Spence, two guys that play off the edge and play off-the-ball linebacker. If you really look at the body type of a Colin Simmons, he really can do those types of things.

So we're trying to create a room where we can give multiple looks but still stay true to who we are, but you've got to have the players to do that. I think that we've recruited that room that way, and I think PK has done a great job of evolving the defense with Coach Nansen to allow our players to utilize their versatility to make it difficult on our opponents.

Q. With the recent news today that Tyler Atkinson committed to Texas and you got Justus Terry last year, how do you come into the state of Georgia and get those guys, and what's the importance of locking up some national big-time recruits?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I can't speak directly towards any recruit. I'm not trying to not answer your question, just so you know the rules there. I think in this day and age of recruiting, one thing is of note. Players are leaving states all over the place going to other states to go play. We've had a ton of players leave the state of Texas and go play at other schools. We've obviously made it a point to recruit more in the southeastern region.

I think, when we moved into the SEC, it was a lot more natural for players from Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia to be willing to come play at the University of Texas. They were already kind of going to A&M because they were in the SEC, but now that we've joined the conference, it's a lot more palatable for those families and for those kids to want to come play at Texas knowing that we're playing in the Southeastern Conference. So we've tried to take advantage of that.

Again, we don't major in that, but we do definitely try to recruit the high-level players that fit our scheme that are made of the right stuff not only as football players, but as people. So far, so good. Like I said, we recruited Florida, we recruited in Georgia, we're recruiting Alabama, we're recruiting Louisiana, and it's been good to us. But at the same token, we're still recruiting the state of Texas. We've got a lot of great players in our own state as well.

Again, I think we've got a good product, and the product is what we've been putting on the field and in the classroom and the success we've had as a team, success our players have had in the classroom, and then the success that our players have had getting drafted in the NFL. I think all of those things adding up, we're an attractive school for players to want to come take a look at.

Then if we can start to develop the relationships the right way and start to weed out some of those that are just there to take the trip and really hone in on the ones that we think fit us, then we try to take advantage of it.

Q. Arch Manning carries himself like he's 30 years old. How will that maturity benefit him as he takes on the challenge of being a starter?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I think he learned a lot over time, right? For Arch, he grew up in this era of seeing high-level football. He's watched Super Bowls. He's watched gold jackets getting put on. He's been to playoff games. He's been recruited at the highest level as the No. 1 player in the country. He watched Quinn navigate through the ups and downs of being a starting quarterback at the University of Texas.

I think the one thing you'll find out about Arch is, one, he's very even keel about him. Two, he's very quick witted. He's got a great sense of humor about himself and he's okay to laugh at himself, and I think that's a great quality to have because, at the end of the day, there's going to be adversity that's going to strike this season, and we all talk about resiliency and grit and all those things that are needed when adversity strikes, but I think some of that resiliency can come from calm, remaining calm. Arch definitely has that about him.

He's a great guy. He's a great teammate. He's got an unbelievable work ethic. And I think, if he stays true to himself, that's going to help him navigate these waters as they present themselves. We've got to do a great job of supporting him around him, as coaches, as players, and ultimately I think he's prepared for the moment, but now it's just time for him to go do it and enjoy doing it quite frankly.

Q. Over the years, how have you seen Michael Taaffe go from being a walk-on to someone whose voice is respected in your locker room and being a bigger leader?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Probably the coolest story on our team right now is Michael Taaffe. Here's a guy who was a state champion at Westlake High School two years in a row, state championship game MVP two years in a row, has scholarship offers to go to other universities. His lifelong dream was to be a Longhorn and walks on at the University of Texas. All he did was work hard. He never put a ceiling on himself.

I think in his mind he always expected to be an All-American safety at the University of Texas as a captain representing us at SEC Media Days. I think that's how this guy thinks and that's how he's wired.

So now when you chronologically look at his path of walking on, being scout team players of the week, earning a little bit of playing time on special teams, earning a little bit of playing time on defense, to becoming a regular down player on defense, to becoming a front-line starter on defense, to becoming an All-American on defense, it's like, how do you not respect the guy? All the while, the way he carries himself and the way he represents the University of Texas and our community, I think is something to be admired.

I think that's what his teammates do. They respect him; they admire him. He's probably as hard on his teammates as he is on himself, and he's probably harder on the other walk-ons than he is on himself because he had to earn what he got.

I couldn't be happier for him. It is huge for us that he decided to come back for his senior season. His leadership, his ability to communicate in the back end for us, he is like a coach on the field. So just proud of him and proud to be his coach. Like I said, I think nobody deserves the accolades that he's getting more than Michael Taaffe right now.

 

[Mark Wheeler]

Q. This season Horns Illustrated is going to write a lot of stories. We're going to post a lot of social media posts about Anthony Hill, about Arch Manning, about Michael Taaffe. But who should we absolutely not forget to mention in these stories when we write about them? Because these teammates or these coaches or these unsung heroes we never hear about are the reason why they're so great.

STEVE SARKISIAN: I think we have a bunch of great stories. I referenced Tre Wisner, like this guy's gone unforgotten. He was a 1,000-yard rusher in the Southeastern Conference last year. It's a fantastic story of who he is.

I think there's so much work that goes into developing our players. You think about our strength staff, you think about nutrition, you think about academics.

I'm going to brag on our academic team for a minute. When we got to University of Texas at the end of our spring semester, we had a 2.32 team GPA in 2021. I couldn't believe it. I said, man, I know the University of Texas is a tough school, but that's really low. What was the byproduct of that team GPA? We went 5-7. We had zero players drafted in the NFL draft.

So we pour into the academic side of things, we pour into the culture. At the end of the spring semester in year 2, we have a 2.78. The by-product is 8-5, five guys drafted, one first round draft pick.

At the end of year 3, the team GPA is a 2.98. We go 12-2. We win the Big 12. We go to College Football Playoff. We have 11 guys drafted, two first rounders.

At the end of last year, we have a 3.27 team GPA. We go 13-3, we go to the SEC Championship game, we have 12 guys drafted, three go in the first round. At the end of this past spring, we have a 3.31 team GPA.

So a lot of people get a lot of praise in the development of our players and the program and the commitment that everybody puts into this, but I think Jeff Nelson and his team and academically what they do, as well as our players of buying into the idea of who you are some of the time is who you are all the time, so how can our GPA go up every year, our wins go up every year, our draft picks go up every year? It's amazing how the correlation of those things occur.

There's a lot of credit, a lot of stories that go into that, but that would be one we probably should tap into and write about.

Q. I wanted to ask about a key member of your staff that's from our backyard, Boaz, Alabama. You started your relationship with him at the university on the coaching staff, and you took him with you. He was key to helping you develop Quinn Ewers and recruiting Arch Manning. Talk about AJ Milwee and the role he plays and his development as a coach.

STEVE SARKISIAN: Coach Milwee is a vital piece of the puzzle for us for sure. We forged a great relationship at Alabama when I was the quarterback coach/offensive coordinator. Coach Milwee was an analyst on staff. He had just come from Akron, where he was one of the younger offensive coordinators in the country.

When I got the job at the University of Texas, he was the first guy I hired. We had worked step by step all through those two years at 'Bama, winning a national title, brought him here to Texas, and he's grown into now he's not just our quarterback coach, he's our co-offensive coordinator.

Definitely, there's nobody I work closer with on a daily basis than A.J. Milwee, from the development of game plans to the scripting of practice to talking about play calls during the game to recruitment of players. I think he forges a great relationship with all the guys in that room.

There's not a day or a moment in the day where I don't feel very comfortable, if I can't do something, that AJ Milwee can handle it and handle it at a really high level. So we're very fortunate to have him.

Q. Yesterday Lane Kiffin came up here and said they're trying to operate within their cap, but they didn't necessarily feel like everyone else was doing that. Curious how you, and maybe Brandon Harris, figure out how to operate within your cap? Who's worth what? Who's not worth what? Do you feel like everybody else is playing within the rules?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I can't speak on behalf of everybody else. I really don't know. Like I said, you know me well enough, I don't have time or energy to worry about what everybody else is doing. We're trying to build a roster that is one that can withstand the test of time. We never wanted to come here and be a one year wonder team and then the next year be not very good. So we're trying to be sustainable for a long period of time. I think that that's what good programs do.

So managing that takes a lot into account. It takes a lot into ultimately the production of players. Are they performing? We've created this environment that this is a production-based business and sport, and so are players producing, one? Two, do they uphold the standards of the organization off the field? If not, then that could be a factor.

Three, we've got to retain those players because, as much as we've built a really good roster, I promise you other schools are trying to hire our players off of our roster to get them to transfer, and our players are very transparent with me about that.

Then the fourth piece is then we're trying to recruit to our roster, and so you only have so much money to go around. You've got to be mindful of that. You just don't want to be reckless with what you do. Now more than ever with the cap in place, you really have to be effective and efficient, and you have to make sure that you're filling your needs on your roster with high level people when you know another high level person is leaving and/or is this a depth move?

So it's no different than -- it's easy to say the NFL Draft you only get so many first round picks, but man, your roster is really made up of those third, fourth, and fifth round picks. It's not a whole lot different than that. We only have so much money to go around.

We've got to do a great job of evaluating. We've got to do a great job of rewarding those players that are doing it at a high level in our program so they don't go anywhere else, but we've also got to continue to develop our players as they grow and make sure that our players aren't doing this for the idea of money.

I think sometimes, quite frankly, it hurts us a little bit in recruiting in the fact that, when kids come on our campus, one of the first things we do, we don't talk about NIL. We don't talk about NIL or revenue sharing or publicity rights until the very end, and that may hurt us on some kids, but if a kid is coming to Texas for that reason, we don't want him anyway. We want kids that want to be at the University of Texas because of the school, the coaches, the team, the culture, all those things that go into it, and, oh, by the way, you can get publicity rights or revenue share and so on and so forth.

If you're coming for the other reason, he's probably going to be the guy in 18 months that's back in the portal going somewhere else where they're going to offer him more money because I can't offer every player the most money that he might get offered by another school. It just doesn't work like that anymore.

Q. Earlier you talked about how you have a hungry team. With back-to-back playoff appearances, how do you keep your team hungry and battle complacency?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I think there's a fine line there of what does complacency look like, of monitoring it, and I watch the intent of our players. I watch the way they work. I watch the way they interact with one another. I watch the way they compete with one another. I don't feel complacency whatsoever amongst our players.

What I do know about our team, I think Anthony hill was a state champion in high school. Colin Simmons was a state champion in high school. Michael Taaffe was a state champion in high school. Tre Wisner was a state champion in high school. I could go down the list. We've got winners in our locker room, and we specifically and intentionally recruited winners into our locker room.

So when these guys are going into the locker room after a loss in the semifinals, I promise you it hurts them. We don't forget that feeling. So we're back to work, and the leadership on this team is full of winners, and that's the way they want to go about the season is try to go win a championship. That's the goal.

Q. You mentioned the traditional rivalries of A&M, Texas, and even threw Arkansas in there. Whether it's your fan base, whether it's your program, where does Arkansas fit or how do you view Arkansas compared to A&M?

STEVE SARKISIAN: From a fan base perspective, especially the traditionalist fan base, they love the rivalry with Arkansas. I think naturally, when I took the job, I knew of a rivalry with OU. I knew of the rivalry with A&M, made sense. I found out about the rivalry against Arkansas when they whupped our ass the second game of our career when I got to Texas. So that rivalry got really good really fast for us. We respect it. We honor it. It's a heck of a rivalry. It's a great game to be a part of.

 

[Mark Wheeler]

Q. Obviously your first time at SEC media days. There's a lot of hype around you, but what do people maybe not know about you?

ARCH MANNING: I feel like I'm a pretty normal guy. I like to hang out with my buddies, take golf. I take football pretty seriously. Other than that, just a regular guy.

Q. What are some of the things you like to improve upon from your last season? What can you say about your receivers and this offense?

ARCH MANNING: Our receivers are really good, really fast. We have a bunch of young ones, but having Wingo and D-Mo back will be good. I'm just really trying to improve as a leader this offseason.

Q. Becoming more of a leader, your teammates have said how active a role you took. What was the impetus of that to try to kind of establish yourself this offseason?

ARCH MANNING: I think as much as it wasn't always easy, those two years I kind of feel like I got a lot of respect from the team. Now being more of a vocal leader, they know it's coming from a place of love. When I get on someone, they know I'm not just being a turd.

Q. With all the media attention that you've gotten this offseason, your entire career and today, all the scrums around you, has any of this started to feel almost normal at this point?

ARCH MANNING: I don't know. Maybe so. I think I've had a lot of role models to look up to and how they deal with the media. I think Quinn did a really good job handling the media. But I'm here to play ball. This is very much so secondary.

Q. Who is more competitive, yourself or Michael Taaffe?

ARCH MANNING: That's pretty close.

Q. Who talks more trash?

ARCH MANNING: He's annoying competitive, though. He'll pick up a piece of trash, and be, I picked up the trash. I'm, like, okay.

No, he's good. He picked me off last week in two-minute drill, which was annoying. But we're both pretty competitive. It gets competitive on the golf course too.

Q. Who talks more trash?

ARCH MANNING: Probably him. Yeah, probably him.

Q. Going back to being part of the renewal of the Lone Star Showdown, you come in and you experience that, scoring a touchdown, what do you remember from that game? And how much are you looking forward to it being in Austin this year?

ARCH MANNING: It was a privilege to have that rivalry back. I'm glad I got to impact the game a little bit. They're a really good team. That was a big-time atmosphere. I'm looking forward to that game.

I got to spend some time with Marcel at MPA. He's a really good guy and good player. We're fired up to play them again.

Q. Big touchdown in a key situation in that game. How did moments of success like that maybe help prepare you stepping into the role you'll have this season?

ARCH MANNING: Anytime you can get reps in the game and make an impact to help your team win, it definitely builds your confidence for the following year. I think I'm going to try to build on that.

Q. You talked about your role models. Yesterday your grandfather's jersey was displayed as part of the Ole Miss shrine. And with your family name, you're about to have your chance to shine and create your own legacy. What's that look like for you?

ARCH MANNING: It was cool seeing that. I think I came here maybe when it was just opening with my grandfather to watch the Ole Miss-Boise state game opening week. But it's been cool looking up to him and my uncles and my dad. I've always wanted to play in the SEC. It's been a blessing.

Q. Your dad's Ole Miss rival, Archie's jersey's here, Uncle Eli. I know you're a Texas Longhorn. What's your relationship you grew up, and what's your relationship with Ole Miss now?

ARCH MANNING: It's a little bit different we grew up going to games. We had a place in Oxford, and I'd spend a lot of the summer there and go to at least a game a year.

Also, I guess not as much, but they got a really good coach and really good team. I spent time with Austin a few weeks ago. He's a good guy. He's got a hell of an arm. They're in for good a year.

Q. Your uncles are notorious for having really strong self-deprecating humor. You've shown flashes of that. What's a Thanksgiving dinner like around the Manning family household, just everybody ripping on each other or what's that like?

ARCH MANNING: I think we play A&M the day after Thanksgiving, so it won't be much. I'll probably be with the team.

But growing up it was fun watching football -- it's pretty much like every other family -- watch football, eat a lot, maybe go outside and wrestle, I don't know. It was pretty basic. Nothing special.

Q. Obviously your family name is big everywhere but in Louisiana it's very big. You're playing for Texas now. Do you feel like you're also representing Louisiana? What does Louisiana mean to you moving forward even though you're playing in the state of Texas?

ARCH MANNING: I try to bring as much New Orleans style to Texas. I learned a lot growing up in New Orleans. Been around a lot of good players. We have some other guys from the state of Louisiana with me at Texas.

It's been fun. Going back every year to Thibodaux, the New Orleans culture and Louisiana culture is second to none. So it's always fun going back.

Q. Obviously you played a lot with Quinn Ewers here last year. Now that you're the starter, has he given you any advice? What have you learned from Quinn?

ARCH MANNING: I learned so much from Quinn in my two years behind him. I think he handled it like a pro. It's definitely not easy having me as the backup with all the media. I'm forever grateful for him.

I actually texted him the other week for advice on two-minute, what kind of plays he likes to start with.

Q. You said you've always wanted to play in the SEC. How has Texas been able to transition so well successfully in the SEC in two years, in the first year?

ARCH MANNING: I think it's a credit to Coach Sark and the way he's recruited and built the program. We have a bunch of good players, and follow his lead. This is a big-time conference. It's tough each week. But I think we've done a pretty good job. I'm hoping to carry that forward.

Q. Do you think your mobility caught anybody by surprise last year? You can really move.

ARCH MANNING: My dad was pretty fast. My mom was fast, too. She's competitive. I try to mix it up a little bit when I can.

Q. What's the hardest thing you've had to deal with in your time at Texas and this offseason?

ARCH MANNING: I think I would say probably from going -- I played -- this is not a really big deal, but I played every year in high school. It was 2-A high school. That doesn't mean anything. But from sitting out and not playing, that was pretty tough.

I think more so now, just dealing with the media and stuff, I don't really care about all that. I'm just here to play football. That's kind of what I want my focus to be.

Q. You and Garrett Nussmeier seem to have a pretty good relationship. How has it been? He's had one year as a starter under his belt. Have you all had those conversations or do you try to keep it away from ball?

ARCH MANNING: No, Nuss was my roommate at that camp. I asked him probably 200 questions. I had no idea he was going to propose a week later. I'm excited for him. He's going to have a good year. They've got a good squad over there.

Q. You talked about how hard it was not to play those first couple of years. Obviously we're in a different era of college sports where it's a super common thing to, okay, if I'm not playing right away I'm just going to go find somewhere I can play. Did that idea ever creep in? I have no doubt you had offers to do that, but was there ever any sort of consideration to do something like that?

ARCH MANNING: No, that never really crossed my mind. I knew Texas was the place I wanted to be. It was the city I wanted to be in, a great education. I had friends there. I was still develop and growing as a football player and as a person. So I never really wanted to leave. If there was somewhere else I wanted to be, I would have gone.

 

[Mark Wheeler]

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Anthony Hill.

Q. What is the most complicated offense you've played against, not the best skilled players, but the most complicated offense?

ANTHONY HILL: Like, in the SEC or just by far my time?

I feel the most complicated offense Kansas my freshman year. They ran a lot of triple offense stuff and it was pretty difficult.

Other than that I would have to say, let me think about this, I would have to say the Georgia offense. They did a good mix running and passing the ball with complex concepts. It was a really fun game to play in, and I'm looking forward to playing them next year.

Q. What makes Colin Simmons so unique, special, and was there a moment you knew he was a guy that could make an impact early?

ANTHONY HILL: From the first day of spring ball when he came in, I seen, I knew something was going to be different about him, just the way he can get off the football and do different stuff. The way he can bend, I knew he was going to be special from one of the first couple practices. It's an honor to play with him. He's going to have a great year this year.

Q. What do you remember from the Texas A&M game last year? How much are you looking forward to that rivalry at home in Austin now?

ANTHONY HILL: Mostly I remember the crowd. The crowd was kind of crazy. It was a fun game to play for the crowd and the media.

I remember the quarterback making some elite runs and stepping up in the pocket and making a couple good throws. That's definitely something I know he's going to improve on going into another year.

I'm looking forward to seeing them. And Rueben Owens is out there. I can't wait to compete against him this year. It's going to be a fun game.

Q. Looking back on the Texas A&M game, how is that rivalry different than the OU-Texas rivalry, as you've been able to play in both now?

ANTHONY HILL: It's a little bit different. We're not playing at a neutral site. It's really fun just playing against that team. We have a lot of familiar faces. I know a lot of the guys on the team; I was committed with some of them. It's really fun playing against some of them, and I can't wait to play them again this year.

Q. Kind of comes with the name "Manning," having such high expectations placed on you. But just from practicing against him, what have you seen that makes you think that he's going to be a star player at the college level?

ANTHONY HILL: Just the way he reads the defense. He reads it really well. He also has the ability to take off and run and change the play calls. He's done that a lot of times against us. I feel he's going to have a really good season. He deserves to have the season that he rightfully deserves.

Q. You said you're looking forward to Georgia again. Playing them twice, they got the better of you both times. What did you learn from each of those games? And how much are you looking forward to playing them and the possibility of another SEC title game?

ANTHONY HILL: I mean, it's fun. I feel like they have a really good football team. We want to play against the best teams in the world. Going against them is a great test for us throughout the season.

And playing them in the regular season is going to be a really good game. And we know we have to play them at their house. We're looking forward for that test. I know it's going to be a really tough game for us, but we're ready.

Q. There's a lot of hype around Arch Manning this week. What do you make of the outside expectations and how do you think he does at handling those expectations?

ANTHONY HILL: I feel like he does a really good job handling some of the hype around him. He doesn't really have a social media or do any of that stuff. I know he's going to be ready to play.

I've been practicing against him for the last three or four years. I know he's going to be ready to go or ready to play when the moment and the lights are on.

Q. Earlier this season, Sark has been on TV and discussed how active a role Arch took in the leadership. So obviously as a backup, there's only so much you can do, but what's the difference you've seen from him this offseason in that regard versus his first two offseasons?

ANTHONY HILL: You can see his competitive nature pop out a little bit more in the workouts and some of that. He's come in with an energy to lead and be a leader. And he's calling the plays like he's been back there leading the show for the last three years.

You can tell he took the right steps towards being a leader and learning from Quinn throughout this time of him being a backup.

In summer workouts, we were kind of struggling with doing our Longhorn shuttles. He brought the group up and gave us a the motivation, pumped us up. We went out there and finished the job, executed it.

Q. You had a defense that helped the team reach the playoffs last year. If you can complete this sentence -- the Texas defense will help reach the College Football Playoffs if...

ANTHONY HILL: Say it one more time.

Q. The Texas defense will reach the College Football Playoffs if...

ANTHONY HILL: If we go out there and communicate, execute like the level we've been doing and even exceed it a little bit more. I feel like we have to communicate better than we did throughout the years. And we have to execute in some of the big moments like we had last year.

Q. Do you guys talk about expectations surrounding this team? Obviously a lot of noise on the outside, but internally, what do you guys focus on this point, knowing you want to get back to where you were and better?

ANTHONY HILL: We kind of just focused on keeping everything day-by-day. We're going through the summer workouts right now. We're just going to focus on that. When we get to fall camp, we'll focus on that. When we get to in-season prep we'll focus on that. We want to take everything day-by-day and figure out things as they go. We want to execute and do our job.

Q. I know you're on the defense, but when Arch came in some of those situational moments, like when he scored the touchdown against A&M, how did him having success in those moments help prepare him to step into the starting role now?

ANTHONY HILL: Getting in the action, of course, gets you ready for the game. There's nothing like that being back there for every single play. I feel some of those games where Quinn was hurt and he played every single moment kind of got him ready, kind of got him a taste for playing in some of the bigger games.

Q. Does the SEC feel like home, or is it still kind of a new home for Texas?

ANTHONY HILL: The SEC, I wouldn't say it feels like home. It's just our second season. But we're going to go out there just play our best, execute. We know we have some tough away games and home games this year, so we're just going to go out there, try to execute and do our job.

Q. Obviously given his last name and the notoriety of being the number one recruit and all that, what's something about Arch that most people probably don't know that's kind of something that only really his teammates, coaches, maybe his family understands about him?

ANTHONY HILL: I feel like a lot of people don't know how fast he is. When he gets out of the pocket, a lot of people aren't going to catch him. He really can run. He really can go.

Q. As a player, how do you sort of view momentum game to game, week to week? The last season ended how it did, but how do you carry over the positive momentum you guys had at some points last year into a new year?

ANTHONY HILL: 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. 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.

Q. Can you tell me your feelings and the team's feelings on being able to face Ohio State after just playing them the last game?

ANTHONY HILL: I mean, it was a tough loss, but that was the last season. We have a whole new team. We want to go out there and be 1-0 next year. That's all we'll focus on is just being 1-0, and we'll handle everything else when the time comes.

 

[Mark Wheeler]

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michael Taaffe.

Q. What's the biggest challenge for the Texas secondary this year, and what are the differences you noticed between the two leagues?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: The first answer, how are we going to handle success? So we obviously had a lot of success. We had the Thorpe Award winner in our back end. We had a second-round draft pick in our back end. And we had a couple of guys returning. So, how are we going to handle success?

And are we going to be complacent with that success or are we going to raise the bar and raise the standard? What I'm always trying to do is I'm trying to raise the standard and understand that there's a bar and we've got to reset that every single year to keep chasing greatness because at the end of the day, if you want your name to be remembered, you've got to keep going and keep doing more.

The leagues, the second question is it's different, right? It's a lot different. There's different speeds. There's different atmospheres. There's different weather. But I know in the SEC, what I can tell you about the SEC is you have to be physically prepared every single game. Your body has to be prepared every single game. There's no game where you can take it lightly.

Q. Sark has said a few times this offseason how Arch has taken on more leadership responsibilities. He's taken that role by the horns, so to speak. How have you seen that? Is there an example where you came away maybe impressed of where he's making those strides?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: Arch is obviously one of my best friends. I was his host when he was a recruit here on his OV. Ever since then, we hit it off.

I think the one thing that I respected about him is he would look like an average Joe if you were walking across the halls, besides that he looked exactly like his uncles and his granddad. But he's such a down-to-earth guy.

How he leads is he gets the respect of the locker room. It's not always the rah rah guy. You can be a leader so many different ways. But how he leads is he makes a personal relationship with every guy in the locker room and tries to get respect from them.

That's leading by example. That's leading with intention by sitting with different people at lunch. That's going out of his way to show people, hey, it's nice and it's good to go thank people for holding the doors or thank people for cleaning up our locker room.

So he leads by example, and he tries to set a standard for the guys, which is really cool.

Q. What's the most common question you get about him? I'm sure you get a ton of them.

MICHAEL TAAFFE: That's a great question. The most common question I get about Arch is -- oh, man, that's a good question. It's usually more generic, like, how is Arch looking? Is Arch the real deal? That's probably the biggest question I get: Is Arch Manning the real deal? My answer to that always is, just let his film do all the talking.

Q. What's the most complicated pass offense you played against within those two conferences and then through your career, because you were in the playoffs last year against the eventual national champion Ohio State?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: Every offense that I've gone against has given me some type of trouble, some type of misdirection, some type of scheme. That's a respect to our defense because they do stuff on film that's different than what they've shown. So I think that's a respect to our defense because we give them something that they've clearly never seen.

But probably the hardest offense that I've gone against is Washington. When Michael Penix was there, Rome Odunze was there, Ja'Lynn Polk was there -- Kalen DeBoer, Coach DeBoer was the head coach there. That was probably the game that was toughest for me.

Q. What did playing in the A&M-Texas game mean for you last year? And where did that interception you had in that game rank among your favorite football moments?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: Top moment, hands down. I was telling my friends the other month, I think that was the coolest moment of my life. It's up there for moments of life.

But I think it's so important to know that we had 13 years of no Texas-versus-Texas A&M rivalry. And then all of a sudden we get it back, and it's in College Station, it's at Kyle Field. And people argue that that's the best atmosphere in all of college football.

To believe that it wasn't rockin' you would be a fool, because that place was -- I saw five fields when they were running out of the tunnel. It was shaking. It was loud. It was crazy.

And it's so good for the great state of Texas, so good for college football, because in Austin there's no pro team. We are the pro team. The Texas Longhorns are the professional team. And in College Station, obviously the same.

It's a rich tradition of just Texas fans going back and forth, and it's so fun for us as competitors.

Q. Piggybacking off of that, you said "the best moment of your life," how much are you looking forward to this year that game being in Austin?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: For sure, because I know that they got a taste of being able to scream for their fans. So the proud and few, the brave Longhorns that went to that stadium, I don't know how they did it. But I'm happy for them that they get to get a sea of burnt orange this next time that we go around.

It's such a fun game. It brings out so much competitive nature out of you, brings out so much rich tradition and history and rivalry. That's what college football is all about, the rivalry games like Texas versus Texas A&M.

And Marcel Reed, heck of a player. The guy they've got on offense, heck of a player, I'm excited.

Q. Do you mind explaining a little bit about your tie?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: For sure. My tie, the Texas floods happened this past week. And Camp Mystic is a girls church camp that was impacted pretty seriously. So all these initials are all the victims at Camp Mystic that lost their lives in the tragic flooding this past weekend.

It's all the daughters, the 8-year-old girls that passed away in the cabins and their two counselors who gave their lives being heroes trying to save those daughters and those girls, and then the camp director who went back into the floods to try to save those girls' lives.

I wanted to remember those victims because they deserve a light like this. What they did, they should be heroes, they should be remembered.

Q. You mentioned your relationship with Arch and a lot has been made about your friendship with Cade, growing up in high school and stuff. Those are two of the top Heisman favorites going into the season. I'm not asking you to make a pick, if you had a vote, but what do you make about their cases for that award this year? What are they going to have to do to maybe put one over the top of the other?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: Obviously this quarterback class is so talented this year. All the quarterbacks in the SEC are really talented alone, but bringing in guys like Klub, Cade Klubnik, makes this roster, this class of quarterbacks so unique, so competitive, a lot of juice.

But the similarities that Arch and Cade have is they know how to take over a team. And they know that the team embodies their personality. So both of them walk on the field, it's, like, all right, it's game time, every time they step on the field.

That's why I respect both of those guys because they have that sense of competitiveness that's, like, all right, nobody can stop me. It's really inspiring.

Q. You played against Ohio State last year and Jeremiah Smith. What were your impressions of him, and how does he rank, maybe, in the athletes you've competed against?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: I can't even rank him yet because I've got to play him again. But he, man, what he does on that football field, it doesn't seem like a real human's doing that, because he's just so unique. He's inspirational in all the talent, and he still is only 19 years old.

So it's going to be really fun going against him because he's a freak of nature. I've watched a lot of his routes, almost all of them, dang near, from last year, and seeing how he gets in and out of breaks, seeing how he runs full speed, seeing how he stacks DBs, and obviously the best thing about him, one of his attributes, is going up and getting the football. You can put three DBs on him, but if you get it up in the air, he's going to go get it, which is really cool.

Q. When did you know Colin Simmons was going to be special, and what is one eye-popping moment for you, you're kind of like, wow?

MICHAEL TAAFFE: The second that he stepped on campus, I knew Colin Simmons would be the guy. He's one of the guys coming in that he's a three-year-and-out, first-round type of guy. I don't want to put too much pressure on him, but I know that's the expectation for himself.

One of the plays, he wears this long towel in practice, it's like a shower towel. I'm like, what is this guy doing?

All of a sudden he runs up with the 1s, one of the first weeks he's out here, and said, hut. A second later, he's getting back to the quarterback and he's giving our left and right tackles a heck of a day.

It's definitely easier to play DB playing man coverage when you've got him going after the quarterback.

It shocked my eye. It was like, is it that sweaty outside right now. Like, why is he wearing that towel?

But then I watched him and he got after the quarterback. I was like, you can do whatever you want as long as you're getting to the quarterback like that.