Sarkisian: Had to 'let go' good players go to create 'cap space'

Do college football teams have a de facto salary cap? It appears that way after Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said UT had to let some players walk in order to clear "cap space" in the offseason.

>As college football evolves, it begins to look more and more like the NFL. Especially for big programs. On Thursday at SEC Media Days, Sarkisian discussed roster building and management several times.

>Sark told ESPN's Paul Finebaum how the Longhorns had to think about its "cap space" and be strategic about who they kept and who they let go. Some were key members of the 2025 squad, like wide receivers DeAndre Moore and Parker Livingstone, running back Quintrevion Wisner and linebacker Elijah Barnes.

“I think in this day and age of the Portal and high school, you’ve got to have the ability to be strategic,” Sarkisian said on thePaul Finebaum Show. “To make the moves we make, to bring in a Cam Coleman, to bring in a Hollywood Smothers, to bring in a Raleek Brown, to bring in a Mike Masunas at tight end; we had to let DeAndre Moore go. We had to let Parker Livingstone go. We had to let Tre Wisner go. We had to let CJ Baxter go."

Texas lost over 1,500 yards and 17 TDs of WR production when the let Livingston and Moore go. But, it freed up enough "cap space" to sign Coleman, the No. 1 WR in the portal. The former Auburn WR had over 1,300 yards and six TDs in his two years with the Tigers.

"I think strategically, there were some tough decisions to make," Sarkisian said. "But we made them. I think we all can agree that we’re probably better around Arch [Manning] today than we were a year ago at this time.”

UT also brought in Smothers and Brown in the backfield, two of the best running backs in the portal.

>"We lost 40 scholarship players off of last years's team," Sark said in his opening statement at SEC Media Days. "24 portal transfers, which was more than we ever had. Three early NFL Draft picks and 13 seniors. With that, we brought in 47 more scholarship players. 22 through the portal and 25 freshman."

>This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Sarkisian: Had to 'let go' good players go to create 'cap space'