Texas football had a disappointing campaign last year, finishing 5-7 in their first season under head coach Steve Sarkisian, including a 3-6 record in the Big 12. Clearly, the Longhorns were far from the perennial national championship contenders they became known as in the early-to-mid 2000s.

Sarkisian spoke to the media on Wednesday and dropped a couple of nuggets, including that he's close to naming a starting quarterback between Hudson Card and Quinn Ewers. But the Texas football coach's most notable remarks came when he addressed the 2022 team compared to last year's squad. Sarkisian believes there's a big difference. Here's what he said, per ESPN.

“The kids knew not everybody in that locker room was all-in last year,” Sarkisian told ESPN. “I think they could feel it, and they wanted to weed out some of the warts, some of the bad apples. I think they got a sense of reality about some of the things we were talking about and trying to instill last offseason. I don't know how much they gave credence to it, and then those same things reared their ugly head in-season.”

That's a pretty damning statement from Steve Sarkisian. The former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator said that “the kids knew not everybody in that locker room was all-in last year.” A Texas football team that lost six games in a row, their worst losing streak in 65 years.

It's understandable then, that Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns would want to “weed out some of the warts” and “bad apples” heading into 2022. With the fifth-best recruiting class in 2022 and the second-best class in 2023, it's clear that Texas football has some good apples on the way.

But taking a step forward in the standings in 2022 is crucial for the Longhorns.