2022 Texas Longhorns football team

The 2022 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin as a member of the Big 12 Conference during the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian, the Longhorns played their home games at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Departures
Over the course of the off-season, Texas lost 46 total players. 23 players graduated, while the other 24 entered the transfer portal. Of the 47 lost, 16 were starters for multiple games last season including starting quarterback Casey Thompson.

Outgoing transfers
Note: Players with a dash in the new school column didn't land on a new team for the 2022 season.

Coaching staff departures
During the off-season, Texas lost 2 position coaches and 3 support staff members. The two position coaches that departed the team were running backs coach Stan Drayton and wide receivers coach Andre Coleman. Drayton took an upgrade by becoming the 32nd head coach at Temple, while Coleman was relieved of his duties at Texas. Furthermore, Drayton and Coleman were the final 2 coaches that were under both previous head coach Tom Herman and current head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Note: Andre Coleman didn't find a new coaching job at the collegiate level for the 2022 season.

Incoming transfers
Over the off-season, Texas added 7 players from the transfer portal. According to 247 Sports, Texas had the 8th ranked transfer class in the country. The first transfer was quarterback Quinn Ewers. Ewers transferred from Ohio State and was the highest ranked recruit since former Longhorn quarterback Vince Young. On the offensive side, Texas also added Alabama tight end Jahleel Billingsley, Alabama wide receiver Agiye Hall, Wyoming wide receiver Isaiah Neyor, and Iowa State wide receiver Tarique Milton. However, Texas only took 2 defensive transfers in Ohio State defensive back Ryan Watts and JMU linebacker Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey.

NFL undrafted free agents
No Longhorns were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, a first since 2014. However, 6 players were signed as undrafted free agents.

NFL Draft Combine
† Top performer

DNP = Did not participate

Returning starters
Texas returns 7 starters on offense, 12 starters on defense, and 1 starter on special teams. 3 of the 7 offensive starters are seniors, 9 of the 12 defensive starters are seniors, and the lone special teams player is a senior.

Offense

Defense

Special teams

Preseason
The preseason poll was released on July 7, 2022.

Award watch lists
Listed in the order that they were released

Preseason Big-12 awards
2022 Preseason All-Big 12 teams Source:

Schedule
Texas and the Big 12 announced the 2022 football schedule on December 1, 2021. Texas will play 7 home games, 4 away games, and 1 neutral site game. The 7 home games will be played against Louisiana-Monroe, Alabama, UTSA, West Virginia, Iowa State, TCU, and Baylor. The 4 away games will be played against Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Kansas. The 1 neutral site game will be played against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas in the annual Red River Showdown.

Coaching staff
Source:

Support staff

 * Jason grooms – Chief of Staff
 * Matt smidebush – Director of operations
 * Jason rodriquez – Assistant operations coordinator
 * Billy glasscock – Director of player personnel
 * Chris gilbert – Director of high school relations
 * Brandon Harris – Director of Recruiting
 * John michael jones – Assistant director, Player Personnel, Offense
 * Robert merritt – Assistant director, Player Personnel, Scouting
 * Austin shelton – Assistant director, Player Personnel, Defense
 * Taylor searels – Director of Recruiting Operations
 * Tyler Johnson — Coordinator of Recruiting Operations
 * Kevin washington – Director of player development
 * Michael Huff – Assistant director of player development
 * Matt Rutherford — Director, Equipment Operations
 * Trevor Cook — Assistant Equipment Manager
 * Joshua Peterson — Assistant Equipment Manager
 * Derek Ochoa — Director of Football Creative Media
 * Kyle Barkle — Assistant Director of Creative Media
 * Patrick Perala — Senior Graphic Designer
 * Michael Good — Content Creator
 * James Bray — Head Team Physician
 * Donald Nguyen — Senior Associate Athletic Trainer, Head Athletic Trainer
 * Daryl Faulkner — Associate Athletic Trainer
 * Johnathan Tran — Assistant Athletic Trainer
 * Stephen Galvan — Assistant Athletic Trainer
 * Cory Castro — Assistant Coach, Athletic Performance
 * Isaiah Gonzales — Assistant Coach, Athletic Performance
 * Markus James — Assistant Coach, Athletic Performance
 * Joe Vaughn — Assistant Coach, Athletic Performance
 * Jeff Nelson — Director of Football Academic Services
 * Amy Culp — Assistant Athletic Director, Sports Dietitian and Clinical Wellness
 * Kirsten Gregurich — Assistant Sports Dietitian
 * DJ Welte — Director, Football Video Operations
 * Bob Napoles — Senior Video Coordinator
 * Desmond Dildy — Video Coordinator
 * Esmee Smiley — Video Coordinator
 * Kyrah mccowan – Director, Football Administration and Program Relations
 * Amy Biegel — Assistant Program Administrator

Analysts

 * Gary Patterson – Special assistant to the head coach
 * David Brock — Senior Analyst, Offense
 * Greg McMahon — Analyst, Special Teams
 * Jeff crosby – Senior Analyst, Special Teams
 * Henry fernandez – Senior Analyst, Defense
 * Joey thomas – Senior Analyst, Defense
 * John dozier dean – Analyst, Offense
 * Michael bimonte – Analyst, Offense
 * Ray pickering – Analyst, Offense

Graduate assistants

 * Tyler Fambrough — Offense
 * Mitch Zoloty — Offense
 * Tevis Bartlett — Defense
 * Nico Johnson — Defense

Roster
Source:

Roster outlook
(*)Redshirt

Vs. Louisiana–Monroe

 * Sources:Stats

Vs. No. 1 Alabama

 * Sources:Stats

ESPN College GameDay announced that they were returning to Austin for the 8th time, and the first time since 2019. They were set up at the LBJ Lawn.

Fox brought their Big Noon Kickoff pregame show to Austin for the first time, it was set up at the Winship Circle as part of the "Hook 'Em Hangout".

Vs. UTSA

 * Sources:Stats

At Texas Tech

 * Sources:Stats

Vs. West Virginia

 * Sources:Stats

Vs. Oklahoma

 * Sources:Stats

Largest margin of victory versus Oklahoma. Oklahoma was shutout for the first time since November 7, 1998 versus Texas A&M. Texas shutout Oklahoma for the first time since October 9, 1965. Most points scored (49) versus Oklahoma all-time, surpassing the 48 scored October 6, 2018.

Vs. Iowa State

 * Sources:Stats

At No. 11 Oklahoma State

 * Sources:Stats

At No. 13 Kansas State

 * Sources:Stats

Vs. No. 4 TCU

 * Sources: Stats

ESPN College GameDay returned to Austin for the 2nd time of the season, and 9th time overall.

At Kansas

 * Sources:Stats

Vs. Baylor

 * Sources: Stats

Vs. No. 12 Washington (Alamo Bowl)

 * Sources:Stats

Defense
Key: POS: Position, SOLO: Solo Tackles, AST: Assisted Tackles, TOT: Total Tackles, TFL: Tackles-for-loss, SACK: Quarterback Sacks, INT: Interceptions, BU: Passes Broken Up, PD: Passes Defended, QBH: Quarterback Hits, FR: Fumbles Recovered, FF: Forced Fumbles, BLK: Kicks or Punts Blocked, SAF: Safeties, TD : Touchdown

TV ratings
All totals via Sports Media Watch. Streaming numbers not included. † - Data not available.