Texas Longhorns College Football Postgame Quote, 01/10/2025

CHARLIE FISS: We are now joined by Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and his student-athletes Quinn Ewers and Jahdae Barron.

Coach, we will come to you first for an opening statement about your view of tonight’s game, and then we will go to questions from the floor with the media. Coach.

TEXAS HEAD COACH STEVE SARKISIAN: Yeah, hell of a football game. Two really good teams battling. They made two big plays, you know? They hit the screen at the end of the first half and got the sack fumble on fourth down there for a touchdown.

Two really good teams. Ton of credit to Ohio State. They’re a very good football team, well-coached, hard-fought game. I’m really proud of our players for the resiliency they showed tonight to fight back to get into the game, to have an opportunity first to go on the one, and weren’t able to put it in.

So as I told them, today’s game is the life of a competitor. You put yourself in this arena. You compete your tail off. But we have nothing to hang our heads about, by the way they competed, not only tonight but this entire season.

Q. For both Quinn and Jahdae. You guys were one play away from getting to the national title game last year. Obviously so close again. How difficult is it to get that close and not be able to finish tonight?

QB QUINN EWERS: Yeah, you know, it’s tough. I think Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian) hit it. It’s the life of a competitor. It sucks being on this side of things, for sure. I mean, back-to-back years pretty much a game decided in one play and it’s hard.

All the work that we put in, being in the final four back-to-back years and coming up short two years, it’s tough.

But I think that’s how life is. You’re going to get punched in the face in some hard moments.

DB JAHDAE BARRON: Yeah, it was a tough situation. I love these guys, and I love Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian). He’s changed my life, but he’s always told us, Adversity will strike. You just have to respond.

But we tried to continue to just fight out there, and we came up short.

Q. For both student-athletes, for Jahdae and Quinn. I know it’s tough in this moment, coming off of a loss, but what can you say about the pride that you have being a Longhorn and just what this season has meant to you, the resiliency that you guys have had, going through this season to where you are.

QB QUINN EWERS: I guess no one really at the beginning of the season thought we were going to be here. First year in the SEC. We make it to an SEC title game. Didn’t go our way either.

But just, again, for us to bounce back the way that we did consistently was really cool to see throughout the entire season. Beyond proud of all of these guys. I love every single one of them: the amount of work that we put in the offseason, winter conditioning, summer workouts, all that.

We grind together, and the love grows together. And it’s just been a really cool season, and I’m so proud to be a Longhorn.

DB JAHDAE BARRON: Man, just growing up in Austin and having the opportunity to wear burnt orange, it’s been amazing. But just to start off, Quinn [Ewers] coming in, being my roommate. Coach Sark, he’s changed my life completely. I’m totally a different person just on and off the field and how I care about myself and just carry myself and things like that.

But I was always told the purpose serves a purpose that’s a lot greater than me and any individual. But these two guys, they most definitely changed my life and everybody else included on the program.

Q. Quinn, what was your sense of the strip sack? Did you not hear him, feel him? And when you saw that it was Jack [Sawyer] who got you, did you have any particular emotion about that given how close you were to him?

QB QUINN EWERS: Yeah, I felt him. I started drifting away.

I thought I was going to be able to get the ball off before he got there. Obviously, it’s not like I tried to give them the game.

But I saw Jack running with the ball down the sideline. It sucks, man. But he’s a great player, great individual, great person. Like you said, we were roommates when I was up at Ohio State. So, it just sucks. It sucks. Jack’s a good player, and he made a good play.

Q. Jahdae, everybody in this room talked a lot about Jeremiah [Smith] and what he was able to do this season. You all really shut him down. What were some of the reasons why you were able to make his day really difficult?

DB JAHDAE BARRON: Just hats off to PK (Pete Kwiatkowski) and the game plan that we had and just mastering PK’s game plan. There’s a lot of things that we should have done better, obviously, to prevent some points from them scoring. But PK’s game plan on that situation on No. 4 was amazing.

Q. You guys were two central figures in this rebuild from Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian). How do you feel you’re leaving the program with the talent that was displayed from guys that we know will be back next year?

QB QUINN EWERS: I think, again, it’s just a testament to Coach Sark and the guys that he brought in and the coaching staff that just completely changed Texas football.

Growing up as a Longhorn and being able to play for the Longhorns and see us going to back-to-back Semifinal games has been cool to be a part of, and I hope we made the fans proud with our performances this year. We came up short, but I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction as a program.

DB JAHDAE BARRON: It’s going to be amazing for these guys. And the reason they’re going to be amazing because Coach Sark and what he’s about. It’s nothing about football. It’s nothing about none of this. It’s culture and who you are as a person.

I know he tells y’all guys all the time, but as soon as he got here, our GPAs got better. He pushed me to graduate. I know that was hard on him. But there are amazing things that he’s done, and it’s beyond football.

He truly wants everybody to be a better person, and the better the person, the better the ballplayer. I know these guys, they’re going to come back.

Q. Steve [Sarkisian], on first and second down, what was the thought process behind Jerrick [Gibson] on first down and the toss to Quintrevion [Wisner] on the second?

COACH SARKISIAN: Yeah really, the first two plays, we threw the ball into the end zone, we got back-to-back PIs.

When we got down to the one, we went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick’s package. We ran it, and we obviously didn’t get much movement at all.

And we had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when we got down there. They went to big people. I can’t quite tell — It was on the far side of where it got leaky.

But that’s one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn’t, and we lose quite a bit of yardage.

And at that point, you’re kind of stuck behind the eight ball because we knew we were in four-down territory because of the score of the game.

And I was okay even if we didn’t score, not that I didn’t want score, but thinking, all right, they’re going to have to be backed up, and we’ll probably get one more possession with good field position.

The last thing you think is the sack, and it’s going to bounce right to the guy, and he’s going to run for a touchdown.

So, it’s unfortunate that that was the circumstances, because it was a really nice drive by the offense to get all the way down there. First and goal on the one and we don’t score, you, quite frankly, probably don’t deserve to win that way.

Q. Steve, obviously, Quinn [Ewers] hasn’t made a decision as yet on his future. But I’m curious looking back after three years of coaching him, what do you take away most from it? And what do you think he’s improved on the most?

COACH SARKISIAN: I’m super proud of Quinn. He’s taught me a lot, probably unknowingly to him, because what he went through every year dealing with injury, what he goes through where I don’t know if he’d ever live up to the standards of what everybody thinks he’s supposed to be.

But at the end of the day, all he did was show up every day and work and be a great leader and be a great teammate. And that’s a real credit to him because human nature, in this day and age, is to look at Twitter, to look at Instagram, to look at social media and articles written and fan boards and whatever else. And you can ride that emotional roller coaster of whatever you think public opinion could be, and that could be the opinion of one or a hundred or whatever.

But this guy never did that. All he did was come to work every day. All he did was be a great teammate. All he did was work on his craft, get himself as healthy as he could when he was injured, and then show up when it was time to show up.

Maybe outside of the first two games, I don’t think he played a game this year 100% healthy. And he fought through everything. Never complained about it one time. And I think that’s why he has so much respect from his teammates.

Q. Coach, you guys tied it up at 7-7. You just decided to bring a little bit of pressure, and then they busted for a touchdown. What was the thought process on bringing pressure at that point?

COACH SARKISIAN: It really was a simulated pressure. It was not like we were trying to blitz and blitz them. We were still seven guys in coverage. They called the screen, they blocked it well, and they got it in the hands of a really good playmaker. [TreVeyon] Henderson’s got real speed, and they blocked it well. We were always concerned about him when he got into the open field. So it wasn’t like we were bringing five or six. It was a four-man rush.

Good call by them, good execution. It’s unfortunate that they hit the screen. I think there was maybe 24 seconds or something to go in the half. I don’t think anybody was anticipating that. Definitely stole some momentum. But that’s why I was so proud of our guys to bounce back the way that they did in the third quarter.

Q. Coach, you taught these two gentlemen the game of football, the whole entire team to be better football players. You also taught them about the game of life and how to win. How do you feel right now, and how proud are you of what you’ve become?

COACH SARKISIAN: I’m very proud. I told these guys in the locker room, they need to hold their heads high. There’s nothing to be ashamed of for what they did this season, the work that they put in, the challenges that we were faced with. Everybody’s got their own unique challenges. We had ours.

But never did anyone complain, we never got the “poor mes.” They just worked. They came back to work. As a coach, that makes you proud.

But what I do know is I think that every player that leaves our program is a better man. And for these two guys right here, Jahdae [Barron] was here when I got here. Quinn [Ewers] coming in and trusting us. That permeates throughout our locker room. When you have trust from your leaders, then you get trust from the other players in that locker room.

We’ve got a great deal of pride. We’ve got a great deal of pride in this helmet. We’ve got a great deal of pride in being Longhorns and playing the game of football the right way. I think we do that. I think we win with class, and I think we lost with class tonight. That’s something that you learn in life.

Life’s not always going to go your way. But if you can do it the right way and you show some resolve and some resiliency and you be a man about it and you be accountable for your actions, you can get on the other side of that adversity and keep going forward. And that’s what these two guys will do, and that’s what the other 120 guys in that locker room will do.

Q. Steve, you’ve been through so many things in football. Can you describe what you’ve been through over the last month, just in terms of the emotional stakes of playing three of these playoff games? Is it different than anything you’ve ever been through before?

COACH SARKISIAN: Honestly, it was awesome. I loved every second of it, you know? I think these guys would probably tell you the same thing. Was it easy? No. Football is not meant to be easy. It’s a tough sport. It’s physically grueling. It’s mentally grueling.

But I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, of showing up every morning with these guys and going to work and playing in some awesome environments and some great games. Kicking off the playoff at home against Clemson, to going to Atlanta and playing a double overtime game against Arizona State, and then coming back here and playing against a great team in the Cotton Bowl.

So we got to play in some amazing environments this year, like I said, from going to Michigan, to playing in the SEC championship game, playing at Kyle Field and renewing the rivalry with A&M. There’s so many great things that this season possessed that –yeah, it hurts, it stings right now. But I’m not going to let this one game and a couple plays overshadow what we were able to accomplish this season.

Yes, we want to be champions. That’s what life is about. You always want to come out on top. But there’s so much that we can learn from this season, and there’s so much to be proud of from this season.

CHARLIE FISS: Coach, thank you so much. Quinn and Jahdae, you had a truly outstanding season. Very proud of you. Thank you for coming.

DB JAHDAE BARRON: I just want to say one thing. I mean, it’s been amazing, just the opportunity, but at the end of the day, I just want everybody to know, you know, usually sometimes you always don’t come out on top. But we won. We truly know who our leader is and that’s God and Jesus Christ.

And ultimately, just having the ability to use the gi[ that He gave us to share to the world, I mean, it’s been amazing. And obviously, amazing for me just growing up in Austin and having the opportunity.

But everybody’s not blessed to do things we do, just to be here. People dealing with fires and chaos in New Orleans. So just to have the opportunity to glorify God on the football field is truly been an honor.

I appreciate everybody.

CHARLIE FISS: Jahdae, thank you so much.