Where ESPN ranked Texas football in post-spring power rankings

Entering this offseason, change was bound to be on the horizon no matter what for the Texas football program. Knowing the amount of change that was about to happen, though, was hard to tell. Texas has completely turned over their coaching staff and a good portion of the roster compared to last year.

Big-name stars such as senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger, junior outside linebacker/edge rusher Joseph Ossai, and redshirt junior offensive tackle Samuel Cosmi are all gone to the NFL. And Texas dealt with a number of other losses to the NCAA Transfer Portal.

To say that newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian did well with all of the change and roster attrition since he was brought on board back on Jan. 2 to replace Tom Herman would be a drastic understatement. Sark had a number of key additions to the program by way of the transfer portal and even retroactive additions to the 2021 recruiting class.

Nonetheless, it’s still difficult to pin exactly what realistic expectations should be for Sark’s first year as head coach. Texas did well last season to round things out after a tumultuous start to the Big 12 slate. They have some momentum among returning players heading into next season following the thrashings of the Colorado Buffaloes in the Alamo Bowl and the Kansas State Wildcats in the regular season finale.

Post-spring media outlook for Steve Sarkisian and Texas football

With spring ball wrapping up a couple of weeks ago for Sark and the Longhorns, the discussion now begins of what the realistic outlook will be for them this fall. Texas only has summer workouts and fall camp to get through before the 2021 season begins. It will be here before we know it.

Spring ball wasn’t able to tell us a whole lot about what the team will look like this fall, but we do know which players stepped up in a newfound spotlight.

So what would be a realistic consideration for how the fall should turn out for Sark and the Longhorns?

In their latest version of power rankings post-spring ball ahead of the 2021 season, ESPN did see some movement for the Longhorns. Texas ranked at No. 22 in ESPN’s post-spring college football power rankings, which is one spot lower than they were in their way-too-early top 25 after the 2020 campaign wrapped up.

Texas was one of three Big 12 teams that even made it inside the top 25 this time around. The likes of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, TCU Horned Frogs, Baylor Bears, etc., were all left on the outside looking in.

Here’s more on what the latest version of ESPN’s college football power rankings had to say on the placement of Texas at No. 22.

"Steve Sarkisian’s first spring camp concluded without a definitive answer on who will replace Ehlinger, a four-year starter. Casey Thompson took snaps with the No. 1 offense in the spring game, and he’ll continue to battle Hudson Card throughout the offseason.New defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski will have a busy offseason trying to build depth at linebacker and on the edge. Along with losing Ossai to the NFL draft, 2020 leading tackler Juwan Mitchell announced on Monday he will transfer to Tennessee."

Texas officially closed out spring camp on April 24, with the Orange-White Game taking place at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The next time that the Longhorns will take to the field for game action in front of the fans will come on Sep. 4 against the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns at DKR.

Last season, the Longhorns finished up with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) under the direction of the former head coach Herman. Sark became the fourth head coach for Texas in the span of less than a decade when he took over for Herman a few months back.