Calling it now: Texas special teams is going to flip from a liability to a legit weapon this season and nobody is talking about it. The Longhorns ranked 112th nationally in turnover margin last year and a huge chunk of that was special teams miscues giving opponents short fields. You cannot have that kind of field position disadvantage and expect to win in the SEC.
Mark my words: by the time we hit October the narrative about Texas being undisciplined on special teams is dead. The coaching staff has made this the single biggest point of emphasis in spring ball and summer workouts. When you look at the numbers from last season, Texas gave up way too many explosive returns and had zero punt return game to speak of. That changes this year or Sarkisian is going to have serious problems.
The real key nobody is factoring in is how much better the kicking operation looks in spring practice. If Texas can consistently pin teams inside the 20 and flip the field position battle, the defense suddenly looks completely different. Every advanced model shows that hidden yardage wins games in tight SEC matchups. Texas was bottom 30 in punt return average last year. You fix that and suddenly you are looking at a top 15 team in SP+ instead of hovering around 20. The pieces are there. Just watch.