RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Jul 23, 2026; Tampa, FL, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
College football’s newest eligibility fight gave Steve Sarkisian a chance to draw a moral line on Monday. Fans immediately started checking the Texas roster.
The Longhorns coach criticized cutting a college player who spent the offseason with the program simply to make room for someone coming directly from an NFL roster. However, the return of veteran Texas offensive lineman Cole Hutson made that position an instant target.
Steve Sarkisian’s Moral Argument Gets Immediate Pushback
“The fact that somebody out there is going to take a player off of an NFL roster and tell somebody who’s been doing it for nine months to go kick rocks, that doesn’t sit well with me,” Sarkisian said on Monday . “I think that’s wrong. That, morally, is wrong.”
One fan quickly pointed toward Hutson.
“He literally did the exact same thing,” the user wrote in an X response .
Another fan questioned Sarkisian’s broader image.
“Sark being the nice guy is the biggest lie ever told,” the user wrote in another X post .
“Coach who has a player off a nfl roster complaining about players off of nfl rosters HYPOCRITE,” another fan wrote in an X reply .
One user asked , “Umm, did he kick Cole Hutson off the team?”
“Sark talking about morals? Pot meet kettle,” another fan added.
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While fans were quick to call Sarkisian a hypocrite, it’s worth noting that Hutson was never actually on an NFL roster.
The former Texas starter went undrafted and participated in rookie minicamps with the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns, but he did not sign an NFL contract. After suing the NCAA, Hutson regained a fifth season and officially rejoined Texas in August. Sarkisian had previously distinguished Hutson from the NFL returnees controversy because he had already spent four years inside the Longhorns program.
That differs from the cases driving the current debate, including former NFL signees attempting to come back to college after being released. The SEC tried to prohibit such returns before a Louisiana court temporarily blocked enforcement, with another hearing scheduled Thursday.
Sarkisian’s specific objection on Monday was narrower still. He objected to removing someone who had been with a college team for nine months to accommodate a player arriving at the last minute from an NFL roster. There is no verified evidence that Texas cut a player to make room for Hutson.
Texas is trying to maximize a championship-caliber roster. The Longhorns went 10-3 last season, while they ranked 17th nationally in PFN’s Defense Impact Score with a 85.4 grade and 38th nationally in PFN’s Offense Impact Score with a 79.7 grade.
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With Sarkisian condemning late NFL additions while welcoming back a player who spent his spring pursuing the league, fans were going to have something to say. However, the details make the two situations less identical than the “HYPOCRITE” claim suggests.
In college football’s current eligibility mess, nuance has rarely been the part that goes viral.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
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