DALLAS, Texas — For the first time ever, the Texas Longhorns appeared at SEC Media Days, which was hosted at the Omni Hotel in Dallas.
It won't be the only time that the Longhorns are in Dallas this year as the city host the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma. But this years game at the Cotton Bowl will be a bit different, with both teams joining the Southeastern Conference after the league expanded to 16 teams.
The Longhorns had a solid season last year recording an overall record of 12-2, winning the Big 12 conference and making it to the college football playoffs before falling to the Washington Huskies in the national semifinal.
Longhorns star quarterback Quinn Ewers is returning for his final season, along with backup quarterback Arch Manning. Offensive lineman Kelvin Banks is returning for his junior season and appeared for his first conference media days. Banks is among the top offensive lineman in the country.
After the success of last season and the hype around joining the SEC, the target is on their back. It would be easy for the team to feel pressure either from their playoff season or from entering a new conference, but they have a different perspective on it.
“I wouldn't say pressure, I would say just more excitement more than anything because we really try to look at it like one week at a time just accomplish the mission one week at a time because like last year, when we lost to Oklahoma, we're looking forward to a little bit of time off from a bye week. When we lost to Washington it's like we're looking forward to going to Houston and playing in a national championship. So we're really focusing on just just being where our feet are," quarterback Quinn Ewers said.
Oklahoma is also new to the SEC, and similar to Texas they had a good season last year going 10-3 and finishing 3rd in the Big 12. But most importantly, they won the Red River Rivalry over Texas.
However, the Sooners have a major change in quarterback this season with Dillon Gabriel transferring to Oregon, leaving Denton Guyer alum Jackson Arnold to take his place.
“I think my biggest part of leadership that I focused on this offseason was being a vocal leader, stepping up and through conditioning or working out just being vocal for these guys and picking them up,” Arnold said. “Even if we're in huddled with each other, just kind of leading those guys telling them how we operate and just kind of showing them the way things are done.”
The Red River Rivalry will continue it’s tradition in Dallas.