Prospects need to look at ‘long-term money’ instead of ‘short-term money’ when considering Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said when it comes to recruiting in the age of NIL revenue sharing, Texas needs prospects to look at “long-term money” instead of “short-term money.”

On the 3rd & Longhorn podcast with former Longhorn football players Jeremy Hills, Derrick Johnson, Alex Okafor, Fozzy Whittaker and Rod Babers as well as host Nick Shuley, Sarkisian said prospects might need to be willing to take a little less money up front to become a Longhorn for the “opportunity to create more opportunities” once they’re at Texas.

“Maybe we get a guy for a little bit less than another school’s offering, especially in this day and age,” Sarkisian said, referring to the House vs. NCAA settlement, which caps NIL revenue sharing between schools and their student-athletes at $20.5 million beginning July 1. “That’s gotta happen, because every Power Four school’s got, at minimum, the same amount of money [$20.5 million].

“So, if we’re trying to assemble a group of talented people, well, every talented person is going to require some money. If I don’t have as many talented people, I’m going to have more money to offer Johnny.

“Well, Johnny has to see the forest through the trees a little bit and say, ‘This is short-term money. I want to look at more of the long-term money. And Texas is going to provide me an opportunity to create more opportunities, whether it’s on the field, off the field, degree, NIL, brand-building, player development opportunity in the NFL.

“What does that look like for me? I’ve got a lot more lanes  to go achieve that [at Texas] than just this spot over here that’s got one avenue.’

“We’ve got a lot of avenues for guys to come here and be really successful. So there’s a lot to it. But like I said, I think we have the best product in the US. I don’t think there’s another school that can say that. And, oh, by the way, Forbes magazine last year, wrote [Texas and Rice are] the new Ivy League.

“Name another school who’s getting compared to Harvard, Yale and Princeton, but on the flip side, is getting compared to Georgia, Ohio State and Alabama on the football field?”

Sarkisian gave a list of things Texas can uniquely offer a recruit in addition to NIL money, including back-to-back College Football Playoff semifinal appearances; having the most players selected in the NFL Draft the last two years (23), including six D-linemen and five running backs; reaching the SEC title game in Year 1 in the league; as well as three straight top-five recruiting classes, including the top-ranked class in 2025.