Texas football wants hype music, viral energy, big hits to be the Longhorns’ signature style this season
Pre-game vibes against Michigan led to big 31-12 victory, pushing Texas into national title conversation
How do you get hype for gameday? If you’re the Texas Longhorns, that means blasting some Boosie BadAzz from the locker room door while your opponents are walking to the field.
One’s preferred taste in music is subjective. But the Texas coaches challenged the players to have more energy prior to kickoff. So now, hype music is blaring from the locker room literally right up until kickoff.
The second-ranked Longhorns (2-0) were thumping before Saturday’s game, and they came out and stomped the Michigan Wolverines. They'll crank it up again this weekend prior to facing UTSA (1-1)
“One of the things we said before the year was that we wanted to have more swagger and more juice coming out to games,” running back Jaydon Blue said Monday. “We feel like when we’re free and we all have juice, we’re probably one of the best teams in the country when we were there.”
Does pre-game music make the difference? “Lil Boozy? I’m not sure,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.
“I'll say this, I get confidence from them,” Sarkisian added. “What gives me confidence is the way they prepare, the way they practice. I get confidence in the way they talk to one another, the way they interact with one another. I get confidence from them the way they interact with me before and after meetings or on the practice field.
“That gives me the confidence to know like we're in a good frame of mind, and if I feel like they're in a good frame of mind, I'm in a really good frame of mind.”
Not everybody’s necessarily looking to “Set It Off,” a la Boosie style.
Texas QB Quinn Ewers laughs off viral moment of disrespect from Michigan dad asking for Horns Down
Ewers named SEC Offensive Player of the Week after knocking off No. 10 Michigan, but postgame moment went viral
“Man, it may sound weird, but I try not to listen to too much vigorous music,” left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. said. “I try to listen to, like, calm music, like slow music, R&B, things like that. Just to keep me calm. Because I know once you step on the field, there's a whole different ball-game kind of mentality of you're not wanting to let somebody take food off your plate.”
Banks’ preferred musical hype?
“Mainly, I listen to the Isley Brothers sometimes,” he said.
Whatever it takes. Big hits can usually hype up the sideline, too. Quintrevion Wisner caught a pass out of the backfield early in the second quarter, went to his right and, before going out of bounds, went in and delivered a major blow to Michigan’s Will Johnson.
Running backs coach Tashard Choice, once no stranger to sideline hype himself during his playing days, shot through the roof with excitement.
“Coach Choice is real big on sideline courage,” Wisner said. “So I know anytime I’m by the sideline, before I go out of bounds, I better lean into somebody and give them that hat.”
Big music, big energy, big hits — all of it can lead to big victories.
“I want to play 60 minutes. I want to make it 60 minutes of hell for our opponents, and we have a roster that can do that,” Sarkisian said. “But that's also a mentality that, that we're striving for, that we're working towards, and I think that we can get better at. And so that's, that's definitely a point of emphasis of ours as well.”
