One day after Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian stated at SEC media days that “we do have a talented roster,” the reporters who cover the conference didn’t seem to disagree.
On Friday, Texas was picked to finish second in the SEC’s preseason poll. The Longhorns placed 11 different players on the SEC’s preseason team.
The SEC’s preseason poll and honor roll were decided by votes from the league’s media members. Earlier in the week, the SEC hosted four days of media activities for its 16 teams in Tampa, Fla.
With 2,449 points, Texas finished behind just Georgia (2,519) in a preseason poll that had Ole Miss (2,004), Texas A&M (1,967) and LSU (1,961) round out its top five spots. Eight of the SEC’s 16 teams received a first-place vote from the poll’s 164 participants, but two-time defending champion Georgia (88) and Texas (57) were the only programs that had at least seven voters tab them as the preseason favorites.
Texas also took up a dozen slots on the SEC’s preseason team as two-time pick Ryan Niblett joined 11 of his teammates on the honor roll. Like Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma were honored a league-high 12 times on the team. Vanderbilt, which was picked to finish 13th, was the only team that was shut out by the league’s media members.
Since joining the SEC in 2024, Texas has gone 13-3 in conference contests. The Longhorns reached the SEC championship game during their debut campaign, but finished in a fifth-place tie in last season’s league standings.