Steve Sarkisian believes two things could determine the fate of the Texas Longhorns in 2024

The Texas Longhorns may have one of the best rosters in college football, but that doesn't mean it's flawless.

The Longhorns are currently in an exceptional situation in the sense that they have been able to replenish their ranks with top talent and, in some cases, even move up after 11 players moved on and entered the NFL.

On the other hand, there is also a tremendous amount of production on both sides of the ball that needs to be replaced.

In fact, there are two areas in particular that head coach Steve Sarkisian believes are extremely important and could ultimately determine their fate next season.

The first and perhaps most obvious area of ​​the two is on the interior defensive line, where the Longhorns lost two All-American talents in T'Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy.

“Well, I think the biggest problem is when you lose those two defensive linemen on the interior of your front in Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat. How do you replace them?” Sarkisian said in an interview with Josh Pate of 247Sports. “I think our depth is really important. And that’s what we tried to attack in the portal, just to solidify the depth by playing more guys and not just relying on those two.”

And that's what they did: The Horns received three defensive tackle commits through the portal in Tiaoalii Savea and Bill Norton from Arizona and Jermayne Lole from Louisville.

Nevertheless, despite the loss of his two best defenders, Sarkisian is confident in what the Horns have brought in and what they already have in place at the position.

“I think we have some players who are ready to develop. Neither nor.” [Murphy or Sweat] “I never started a game until last season either,” Sarkisian said. “We have some young players in our program who are coming of age. “I love where Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton are and what they can do with the growth of our other players.”

The other focus the Longhorns have had this offseason is on the other side of the ball, where the Longhorns will once again need to replace large amounts of production.

He's talking, of course, about the losses in the pass-catching department, where Texas lost quarterback Quinn Ewers' four favorite targets in Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Jordan Whittington and Ja'Tavion Sanders – each of whom played a crucial role last season.

Luckily for the Horns, they were able to attract some top-notch talent through recruiting and the portal.

“On the offensive side of the ball, we lost three NFL receivers and one NFL tight end,” Sarkisian told Pate. “To restore that continuity for Quinn, whether it's in the transfer portal with Isaiah Bond, Silas Bolden, Matthew Golden…or with the three young players we had who were the only returning scholarship players in Johntay Cook and Ryan Niblett.”, DeAndre Moore; or the high school kids like Ryan Wingo.

However, attracting talent does not always mean success.

Ewers also needs to build continuity and a good relationship with his new pass catchers. This includes returning players like Johntay Cook and DeAndre Moore, who had extremely limited reps in their first season.

Of course, this is easier said than done. But as Sarkisian admits, it will also be crucial to their overall success — especially in big games.

“We need to get that continuity to an all-time high because that’s what’s needed in these big games,” Sarkisian said. “It depends on the precision of the passing game. This is crucial. You have to be able to create these explosive plays. I think that was one of the reasons we beat Alabama. But I think that was also part of the reason we lost [in the CFP]. Washington has had great success against us. We didn’t get enough of them against Washington.”

It will be difficult to say how well the Horns have addressed these problem areas until the season begins Aug. 31 against Colorado State.

Until then, we can only speculate.