The Longhorns won’t bring swords to College Station this Saturday, but they’ll go storming into Kyle Field with a gladiator mindset.

Both Russell Crowe and Paul Mescal would be proud.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian took the players to see the “Gladiator II” late last week. The seniors remember the first movie with Crowe, but the sequel featuring Mescal was all new to the younger ones. Either way, the Hollywood shot of adrenalin was just what No. 3 Texas (10-1, 6-1 SEC) needed last week against Kentucky and this week going to A&M.

“A lot of the guys are younger, so they obviously didn't see the first one,” Texas linebacker David Gbenda said. “I’m not gonna spoil too much from the first scene. It was just going straight into the action, and the plot just sort of thickened. And they did a great job with Denzel Washington's character.”

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Who would be the best gladiator during the Roman Empire? Gbenda has to think about it. But the best fighter would be his fellow linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., who had one of his best games of the season against the Wildcats. Hill was named the SEC’s co-defensive player of the week and had four tackles for loss and 2 1/2 sacks.

“I really saw the gladiator and ‘Gladiator’ in him,” Gbenda said. “He has a real competitive spirit that he doesn’t bring out a lot, but when he does, it's a very interesting sight.

“It’s just one of those things. How do I describe it? It’s just seeing the competitive nature of somebody. It’s interesting to me, because usually people are very nice themselves off the field. I’m saying good people. Football shows you a lot about people. And he really is a fighter, and he will come at you with everything that he got, and he will, he will not get beat.”

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By this point, sixth-year linebacker David Gbenda knows who can play and who can’t. The Longhorns don’t need an award committee to remind them how special Anthony Hill Jr. is. “I know what he’s capable of bringing,” Gbenda said. “You can cut the film on. The film doesn’t lie.” Hill is the leading tackler for […]

Texas center Jake Majors loves the mindset of going on the road. To him, it’s like the mindset needed in the movie “300.” The Horns have won 10 straight true road games, the longest streak in the nation.

“It’s kind of like that movie, It’s only a fixed amount of guys against a big army,” Majors said. “They got the 12th Man, they got their team, all their fans and stuff. So it’s just really exciting to go into an environment like this where our backs are against the wall and we just got to find a way to win. It’s going to be really fun.”

SEC rules allow for Texas to bring only 74 players, though.

“Coach Sark has done a great job emphasizing the message of what this rivalry means in the state of Texas, and also, I grew up with a bunch of Aggies, so I understand,” said Gbenda, who figured he’s been to two A&M games in his life. “I’ve been in that environment, so I understand what this rivalry means to a lot of people and what we’re going to step into.”