Texas Football: JT Sanders knows ‘how to hold others accountable’
There seems to be a new crop of emerging leaders for the Texas football program heading into spring ball. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian have a plethora of returning starters to replace the departing senior leaders in 2023.
On the offensive side of the ball, Sark and the Longhorns lose key upperclassmen such as All-American junior running back Bijan Robinson and senior running back Roschon Johnson.
The good news is that there are 10 returning starters on offense for the Longhorns in 2023. And one of the key returning starters that I expect to take a big leap forward this fall is rising junior tight end and the former elite five-star recruit JT Sanders.
A reigning All-Big 12 First-Team selection, Sanders had the best individual season of any Texas tight end in 2022 since David Thomas in 2005 (per Sports Reference).
As an interesting aside, Sanders in 2022 and Thomas in 2005 literally had the same number of receiving yards and touchdown catches.
Moreover, Texas needs Sanders to not only be a leader by example with his play on the field, but he also needs to become a more vocal leader in the locker room and in practice/workouts. Sanders is already largely viewed as a leader by example in practice given how he stands out physically and with the insane work ethic we’ve heard about since the early stages of last offseason.
Texas football TE JT Sanders on the path to becoming a more vocal leader in 2023
The next step logically for Sanders to become a true leader on and off the field for the Longhorns in 2023 is for him to become a more recognizable voice in the locker room. And it sounds like he’s on the right track with the attitude that he’s put on display in the midst of winter workouts.
Sanders reportedly “is emerging as a key vocal leader” within the program in the early stages of the offseason, per Horns247 (paid content). A source within the program reportedly mentioned that Sanders knows “how to work, how to push and how to hold others accountable”.
It is the latter portion of that statement from the team source that really caught my eye in this Horns247 report. Establishing a certain level of accountability among teammates is something that Texas was seemingly missing in terms of the locker room culture that was present at different points within the last decade.
Finding new leadership critical to the stability of the culture
We saw what can happen in terms of the attitude and culture within a locker room when a true leader such as Roschon emerged last year. Roschon was able to set the tone essentially from day one last offseason to make sure that the Longhorns players had the necessary mindset and level of work ethic to really succeed on the field when it mattered most last fall.
You could say he helped to establish a culture of accountability that wasn’t really there in the locker room in past seasons under some of the previous coaching regimes.
And with the void left in the program by Roschon entering the NFL Draft, Sark and the Longhorns need to find another key player to step up and fill that role to ensure the continuity of the type of culture that started to build last year.
Sanders will now be in a group of key returning starters on Texas’ offense in 2023 that must step up on the field and in the locker room, along with guys such as senior wideout Jordan Whittington and third-year quarterback Quinn Ewers.
Next. 3 returning starters assuming bigger leadership roles in 2023. dark
Texas has a chance to do something really special in its final year in the Big 12. The necessary talent and returning production are in place on both sides of the ball for the Longhorns to finally win the Big 12 in 2023. The first SP+ rankings of 2023 from ESPN’s Bill Connelly pegged Texas as the top team in the Big 12 for a reason.