Steve Sarkisian Explains How Texas Let Good Players Go To Make Room For Elite Transfers

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian acknowledged this week that building a championship roster in the transfer portal era sometimes means making difficult decisions with players already on the team.

Speaking during SEC Media Days, Sarkisian said the Longhorns have had to move on from "good players" in order to create roster spots for elite talent available in the portal. He explained that while those conversations aren't easy, the goal is to continually improve the roster and compete for championships.

"It's not always easy," Sarkisian said. "There are good players that have left our program because we felt like we had an opportunity to bring in an elite player. That's part of roster management now."

“To make the moves we make, to bring in a Cam Coleman, to bring in a Hollywood Smothers, to bring in a Raleek Brown, to bring in a Mike Masunas at tight end; we had to let DeAndre Moore go. We had to let Parker Livingstone go. We had to let Tre Wisner go. We had to let CJ Baxter go."

"We had to let some pretty good players leave to create the cap space to bring those guys in. I think strategically, there were some tough decisions to make. But, we made them. I think we all can agree that we’re probably better around Arch today than we were a year ago at this time.”