How does Texas, Sarkisian balance recruiting, transfer portal and the SEC title game?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — With the early signing period starting two weeks before it did last season, the transfer portal opening Dec. 9 and a certain big game on Saturday, it's safe to say that Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian needs to be in multiple places at once.
After securing the top-rated recruiting class for 2025 on the first day of the early signing period Wednesday, Sarkisian said all of the focus is on Georgia and the Southeastern Conference championship game on Saturday.
"We're trying to manage everything as it's coming at us here," he said. "There's definitely some moving parts. But I think our staff has done a really good job of compartmentalizing those things. The people that are responsible for what they're responsible for are handling their business."
Of the 24 signees Sarkisian and the staff secured, 20 will enroll midyear and be available for spring practices, and Jonah Williams plans to play both football and baseball at Texas.
According to rankings by 247Sports, Texas topped the charts with four 5-star and 14 4-star recruits to go with six 3-star recruits, and Sarkisian said they value the player as a person as much as they do as an athlete.
"This is a very talented group of players that I think not only fit the physical characteristics of what we're looking for by position in our program, but I think to meet the character and are going to fit nicely into our culture," he said.
Once the SEC title game is done, Texas runs the risk of losing players when the transfer portal opens, and Sarkisian knows that. He's embraced the portal since it came to be and his approach is to coach the players he has in the moment and worry about the portal movement when he has to.
MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters
"We're holding off having any discussions with any players until after the game," he said. "We're going to have some guys that want to go in right away and some that maybe want to wait until our season is done. I support that, I understand that. This is the day and age of college football that we're in."