“We do have a talented roster. We do have a good football team,” Sarkisian told a room of reporters who cover the league.
It appears that NFL draft evaluators agree with Sarkisian. Receiver Cam Coleman, offensive lineman Trevor Goosby, quarterback Arch Manning and edge rusher Colin Simmons were all projected to be first-round picks in mock drafts that were recently published by ESPN and Bleacher Report, and Simmons, Manning, Goosby and Coleman are currently listed fourth, sixth, 10th and 12th on PFF’s ranking of players in the 2027 draft cycle.
Earlier this month, ESPN analyst Jordan Reid also listed Manning and Simmons as two of the four “serious candidates” for the No. 1 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. In its history, Texas has had three players — Tommy Nobis in 1966, Earl Campbell in 1978 and Kenneth Sims in 1982 — taken first in an NFL draft.
But if Texas has four players taken in the 2027 NFL Draft, that would be a historic moment for the program. Since the NFL’s first draft in 1936, Texas has boasted multiple first-round picks on a dozen occasions. The Longhorns, though, have never had more than three first-round picks during a single year.
The overall record for the most first-round picks from a single school during a single NFL draft is six. In 2004, six Miami Hurricanes were selected in the first round of that draft. Alabama matched that feat in 2021, and five of those first-round talents – receivers Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, quarterback Mac Jones, offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood and running back Najee Harris – were offensive players who were coached by Sarkisian during the 2020 season before the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator took the Texas job.