Chemistry is tricky, especially in football. The old clich is you need 11 players to work together, meaning the players that are on the field at a given time.
The reality is you need so MANY more players than that to make it work. Starters, backups, third-stringers. Creating that chemistry is an art, frankly, and in college football it encompasses everything from recruiting to offseason workouts to the actual games.
Alabamas Nick Saban has a process because it works, but that also makes it sound like a paint-by-numbers canvas that anyone can use. Sabans skill is painting outside the lines in a way in which it doesnt even look like thats what hes doing.
Part of the reason the Longhorns hired Steve Sarkisian was that he worked for Saban, and lately, Sabans former apprentices look more and more like theyre ready to teach their own masterclasses.
Jimbo Fisher already has a national championship with Florida State, and with Texas A&M hes created a 2022 recruiting class that could utterly change that program.
Georgia, led by Sabans former defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, just won his first national title.
For every Smart, of course, theres a Jeremy Pruitt. Not every one of Michelangelos apprentices went on to bigger and better.
So at a time of year when you rely on the scoreboard as guidance, you look for signs that the chemistry a team like Texas sorely needs is simmering.
Sarkisian offered a glimpse Saturday night when he was asked what had improved from last offseason to this offseason.
Lots of talk about the quarterbacks, of course.
But then Sarkisian revealed an off-hand comment from one of his players during a practice earlier this spring.
That player told Sarkisian that no one on the team wanted to let the others down.
That was one of the coolest things Ive heard a player say to me since Ive been here, Sarkisian said.
He called that comment a huge stride from January. It might also be a huge stride from last season, when this team seemed to collectively fall apart, at least on the field, as it finished 5-7.
Its a little thing, of course, but its encouraging. Sarkisian admitted the other area his team improved on is football IQ.
The Longhorns put a heavy emphasis on situational football during workouts, though he made sure to point out that everything is situational football, but some situations are more special than others. In fact, Sarkisian ran through nearly all of those special situations on Saturday.
But football IQ can be taught, coached and refined. Chemistry? Thats far trickier.
Coaches can do everything they can during the recruiting process (and the re-recruiting process in the case of transfers) to find like-minded players that share their vision and values.
But, at the end of the day, there is a certain degree of just throwing 90-something disparate people into one room and watching what happens when people stop being polite and start being real.
Were not past the polite phase of the offseason.
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Thats coming.
But, to Sarkisians point, if you build sustainable chemistry now, it can help you weather those moments when things start getting real. You know, perhaps, in early September against Alabama?
When you have a real team and youre counting on one another and you can count on each other, thats a positive sign, Sarkisian said.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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The Sign that Texas Chemistry May Be Coming Around - Sports Illustrated
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