Early on Thursday morning, On3 Sports reported that sophomore wide receiver Johntay Cook II had left the team. Cook confirmed the news on On3’s Instagram post, commenting “bounce back gon be crazy.” 

The news came after a three week stretch for Texas football, during which the Longhorns lost to Georgia and narrowly defeated Vanderbilt. Cook, who caught eight passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns this season had as many receptions for one less yard and no touchdowns through 14 games during the 2023 season. 

It begs the question: has head coach Steve Sarkisian lost the culture of his team? Sarkisian is constantly praising how strong his team’s culture is, but when a player like Cook, who was a five-star recruit, leaves mid-season, it brings some doubt. 

“Obviously, we had some roster movement today with Johntay Cook moving on, we have nothing but respect for him, his family,” Sarkisian said. “(We) wish him the best of luck in his  future endeavors.”

Sarkisian said that the decision for Cook to leave the team was mutual between both parties. 

But Sarkisian has already moved on and is focused on getting his team ready to play. Ahead of the Florida game, he’s back to doing what he needs to do to get his team ready for the Gators. Though the Gators sit at 4–4, it will not be a cakewalk of a game. His team’s culture will need to come through to get a strong start out of the bye week going into the final stretch of the season. 

As people say, culture wins are the hardest to get. Texas beating Vanderbilt can be defined as a culture win, but several moments during the game showed a lack of discipline. The Longhorns were called for 10 penalties, two of which were personal fouls.

This week, the team’s culture will be tested again as it exits the bye week. Florida’s game plan will change based on who’s starting at quarterback, whether it’s freshman DJ Lagway or Yale transfer redshirt freshman Aidan Warner. The defensive adjustments that need to be made for each quarterback will show the strength and culture of the Texas defense and test its ability to adjust to different schemes.

Lagway is known for his ability to run the ball, but with an injured hamstring, could be limited in that area. Much about Warner is unknown, but one thing is for sure, he can throw the football. 

“If you’re going to play a team with a quarterback who might be hobbled, but if he’s not hobbled, then he can run pretty good, and his backup can run really well, then your scheme is one way where it’s like, okay, we need to be cognizant of this,” Sarkisian said. “But I think at the end of the day, if you know a guy’s coming in and he’s got a hamstring (injury) and he may be healthy, he may not be, well, we have to monitor that in real time in-game.”

Though Sarkisian praised his team’s ability to stay focused during the bye week, the real result will be seen on the field this Saturday. For the first time in three weeks, Texas will be back in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, bright and early for an 11 a.m. kickoff.