SAN ANTONIO - - Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian wants his Longhorns and the rest of the FBS teams in the Lone Star State to better “corral” the high school talent within the state’s borders.

Sarkisian knows he can’t win every recruiting battle and that some of the Lone Star State’s biggest stars might not wear burnt orange. But he’d rather lose them to Texas A&M, SMU or Texas Tech than to programs outside the state. 

Nearly half of the state’s Top 10 prospects over the last five cycles – 23 of 50 – signed with programs outside of the borders. That includes 15 of 30 over the last three cycles. Four of the state’s Top 5 prospects in 2025 left the state. The Top 2 in the 2024 cycle departed. Five of the Top 7 in 2021 exited stage left.

“I wish we could corral it a little better than we have and that’s going to be a goal of mine over the next 12 to 24 months,” Sarkisian said at the Texas High School Coaching Association’s coaching convention on Sunday afternoon. “And I don’t think it’s just the University of Texas. I think it’s all the school involved to make that happen. I think there’s a responsibility on our end. I think there is a responsibility from our high school coaches to do that because I think we would all love for the players that play high school football in the state of Texas, to go to one of our schools and to have success and to compete for championships.” 

Sarkisian sometimes takes heat from the Texas high school coaching community for recruiting out of state. There is a longing for the old days when Mack Brown built a national championship team littered with Texas high school products. Sarkisian’s five full-cycle classes signed at Texas consists of 72 Texans, which is 60 percent of the signees since 2022. The Longhorns signed a staggering 88.8 percent of their players from the Lone Star State from 2000-2004. 

The current Texas head man says that is not by design. He insisted that he’d love to only recruit the state of Texas and never “need to get on a plane” to land a recruit. It’s simply not feasible anymore. Recruiting is national. By 2026, seven of the 10 major conferences will have at least one member school from Texas, including three of the four power conferences. 

Travel and communication methods like Facetime also make it easier than ever to leave from home. And with revenue share, players have the money to move their family with them or to pay for them to visit with more frequency than Brown’s era. This isn’t just a Texas problem. A quick glance at the Top 10 prospects from states like Georgia, Florida, California, and Alabama reveal similar exoduses. 

“I would love to not have to leave our state, but history tells me that we’re not going to sign all the best players from the state of Texas every year,” Sarkisian said. “Some are going to go to other schools within our state and some are going to leave (the state).”

Sarkisian knows Texas is the key to his success. The Longhorns’ 23 players drafted over the last two years leads the country. Nineteen of those 23 were Texans. His responsibility isn’t to build a roster of Texas prospects, however. It is to build the best roster he can. Massaging those two truths is the toughest part of coaching at Texas. 

“The fine line is making sure we are building a roster that can compete for national championships,” he said. “But at the same time, make sure that we’re continually recruiting the best players from the state of Texas.”