Texas Longhorns
Texas senior already questioning heart of younger players
Texas Longhorns

Texas senior already questioning heart of younger players

Published Sep. 10, 2015 11:21 a.m. ET

Last year Texas' elder statesmen complained week after week about the doom-and-gloom attitude of many younger players. As soon as something bad happened, heads flopped.

That same sentiment is already being voiced this season after one game. In fact, after one Notre Dame touchdown.

Senior wide receiver Daje Johnson voiced his discontent with the sour attitudes after the 38-3 pummeling by the Irish. He said he noticed players getting down when it was only 7-0.

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"When they first scored I saw a lot of players already getting down on themselves," Johnson told 247Sports. "It was like one touchdown, though. You have to have more heart than that.”

Coach Charlie Strong is into his second year of trying to cultivate a culture in his image. Last year, he suspended nine players for failing to live up to his five core values. Over the offseason it was expected that the 2015 Longhorns understood what was expected of them and that everybody was pulling in the same direction.

Hearing Johnson already questioning his teammates' heart, a suggestion that the team is not fully together, has to be disturbing to Strong, who is dealing with his own coaching issues after demoting play-caller Shawn Watson on Tuesday.

"I thought we’d go out and blow out Notre Dame. That’s my perspective," Johnson said. "I’m not going to say any names, but a lot of players on the team don’t even feel like that.

"A team with a high caliber comes in, and they're like, 'Oh, we don't even have a chance.' They start buying into that and aren't focusing on that we could actually win."

These issues won't simply go away by themselves, and that's a big problem for Texas and Strong just one week into the season.

(h/t 247Sports)

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