AUSTIN – If Roman philosopher Seneca was right when he said, “no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity,” it explains why the smiles on Texas’ upperclassmen shined so bright ahead of Sugar Bowl week. They’ve walked through fire to reach the mountaintop. 

Eleven players still on the squad, including seven starters from the Big 12 championship game, stuck with the Longhorns despite a coaching change after 2020 and a losing season in 2021. Starting left tackle Christian Jones arrived on the 40 Acres in the 2018 recruiting class. Jordan Whittington, T’Vondre Sweat, and David Gbenda began their Texas careers one year later. Seven more players, including starters Jaylan Ford, Jahdae Barron and Jake Majors, came to Texas as part of the 2020 cycle. 

“We’ve seen a lot and been through a lot,” Ford said. “We have leaders who lead us in the right direction, and we have a team that loves each other and plays for each other. I think we’re ready for whatever is in front of us.” 

Texas was 28-20 overall and 19-16 in Big 12 play from 2019 through 2022. The last three bowl trips were to the Alamo Bowl. The once mighty Longhorn program was in the dumps. They only won 10 or more games once since 2009 and had lost at least two conference games in every season from 2010 through last year. Of the program’s nine bowl trips since the BCS Championship loss to Alabama after the 2009 season, seven were to either the Alamo or Texas Bowl. 

The Longhorns demand more, and so Tom Herman was fired after a 7-3 mark in 2020. Texas will face Washington in the Sugar Bowl nearly three years to the date that Steve Sarkisian was named the 31st head coach of The University of Texas. His first meeting was a Zoom call because he was preparing to call plays for the Crimson Tide in the national championship a few days later. 

“From day one, I understood that he’s been under a great head coach in Nick Saban, so we knew he understood what it takes to win,” Gbenda said. “I understood that we’d get this thing going once he got the pieces in place. What he was saying was true. When the culture piece came about, it unlocked us.” 

Culture is a buzz word in college football. No one knows exactly how to define it, but the good programs rely on it. Texas’ culture was headed in the wrong direction late in Herman’s tenure. The team wasn’t competing for Big 12 championships, and recruits were jumping ship. Quinn Ewers flipped to Ohio State. The Brockermeyer twins ended up at Alabama. The “Eyes of Texas” controversy split the locker room and caused distractions and divisions amongst fans and players. 

Sarkisian fixed the culture. The talent was never an issue. The Longhorns routinely land in the top 10 of the national recruiting rankings, even in down years. Development was the core of the issue, as was togetherness. The Texas locker room under Herman felt disconnected. Like everyone was an independent contractor. Not anymore. 

“Connection,” Jones said when asked what turned this program around in three years. “Having a deeper connection with each other. Having an actual brotherhood. A lot of work went in to getting us here. It was a long time ago, but it is really not. It is a testament to Sark and the staff.”  

That’s not to say the turnaround was immediate. The Longhorns limped to a 5-7 finish in Sark’s first year in charge. Texas gave up halftime leads to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Baylor in the middle of the campaign as the season unraveled. Texas jumped to eight wins in year two as fine margins continued to plague the Longhorns. Texas was 2-4 in one-possession games during the 2022 season. 

And while failures under previous head coaches caused cracks in the foundation of the locker room, the trials of the last few years brought this version of Texas closer together. 

“It was a tough one, a lot of growing pains. But it was necessary,” Gbenda said of 2021. “All of those bad seasons were necessary because it forced us back to the drawing board to correct our mistakes. It got us to where we are now. It was tough then, but I’m glad it happened because without those seasons, we wouldn’t have built the culture we have now.” 

The younger crop of Longhorns may never need to fail at that level because the group before them made it through the fire. Gbenda joked that he reminds the freshman that they’re having the time of their lives. 

“I’m glad they get to experience this because they now know what it is like to win and what it takes to win,” Gbenda said. “They can build on this and establish it for themselves. It is a head start to get exposed to this.”  

A new starting point means the next herd of Longhorns can carry the torch even further, but that won’t stop the upperclassmen from attempting to achieve the ultimate goal.

“We have a chance to be legends, so why not go be great?” Gbenda asked rhetorically. “It is a great feeling knowing that what we’ve put in so much work for is coming to fruition.