Steve Sarkisian didn’t let the issue linger after Texas’ win over Tennessee. The Longhorns beat a ranked SEC opponent, but the postgame conversation kept circling back to the crude celebrations from Colin Simmons and Raleek Brown.
On Monday, Sarkisian said he had already addressed the matter with both players and with the entire team, making it clear the behavior crossed a line.
“I know there's been a lot made of Colin's penalty. There probably could have been a couple more, truthfully.
I was truthful with the team this morning, but that's not who we are as a team, and that behavior is unacceptable. I've met with the team about it; I've met with Colin individually; I've met with Raleek individually.”
Sarkisian did not go into any specifics about punishment or suspension, but he made it clear the issue was being handled inside the program. He also stressed that Texas takes pride in how it plays the game, and that Saturday’s antics did not reflect the standard he expects.
“We take a lot of pride in the way we play the game," Sarkisian said. "We've gotta learn from that; I think Colin will. I don't think any of those actions are indicative of the character of the young men.”
Simmons apologized after the game and said he let the moment and how good he felt in the game get the best of him. But Sarkisian’s message was bigger than one player or one celebration. He said the lesson has to reach the whole roster, because Texas will keep running into heated road environments.
The Longhorns still have LSU and Texas A&M away from home, and the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma is only two weeks away. Sarkisian’s point was simple: the noise won’t stop, and Texas can’t keep getting pulled into it.
“We've gotta learn from the lesson. We can't let the emotions of the game get the [better] of us cause we're gonna be in other hostile environments," Sarkisian said. "We've gotta continue to learn from that."
By repeatedly saying “we,” Sarkisian made his stance obvious. This wasn’t about isolating Simmons and Brown as lone offenders. It was about the whole team owning the mistake and learning from it together.
“Not indicative of the team that we are, or the character of this team, or what we're about,” Sarkisian said.
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For Texas, the appeal is obvious: Simmons is giving the program a rare kind of Heisman candidate, one whose value is measured in pressure, disruption and the way he changes games on that side of the ball. The catch is that the award still tilts heavily toward offense, and current odds leave him behind several more traditional contenders. Even so, his rise has made him impossible to ignore, and whether he can keep forcing his way into the debate will come down to how voters view a defensive season in a race built for quarterbacks and skill players. [Read more 🡒]