Steve Sarkisian Addresses $50M Rumor About Texas' Roster Featuring Arch Manning, Cam Coleman

University of Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian denied a recent report regarding the Longhorns' NIL allocation.

According to CJ Vogel of OnTexasFootball, Sarkisian said Thursday that the report was "inaccurate."

On Wednesday, The Athletic's Stewart Mandel, David Ubben and Sam Khan Jr. published a report in which they estimated the NIL spending of 68 college football teams from power conferences, plus Notre Dame.

Texas' NIL spending was listed at an estimated $45 million to $55 million, placing it third among all college football teams with an estimated average of $50 million.

Texas has been a program on the rise under Sarkisian, winning double-digit games each of the past three seasons.

In 2024, the Longhorns reached the College Football Playoff semifinals, and although they missed the CFP with a 10-3 record last season, they entered 2026 as the No. 5 team in the nation.

That is thanks largely to the return of quarterback Arch Manning, who is in the midst of his second full season as Texas' starter.

Manning likely would have been a first-round pick and perhaps even in the No. 1 overall pick conversation had he entered the 2026 NFL draft, but he decided to return for one more season with the Longhorns.

On3.com's Pete Nakos reported in August that Manning was believed to be making somewhere in the range of $2.5 million this season as part of his NIL arrangement.

In addition to getting Manning to return, Sarkisian was aggressive during the offseason in terms of securing big-time talent out of the transfer portal.

Chief among them were former Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman, former NC State running back Hollywood Smothers, former Arizona State running back Raleek Brown, former Arkansas defensive tackle Ian Geffard, former Wake Forest offensive tackle Melvin Siani and former Pittsburgh linebacker Rasheem Biles, all of whom have been key contributors so far this season.

Texas likely had to pay up in order to land that group of transfers, but there is no publicly available information regarding just how much those players cost in NIL.

Regardless of what Texas is spending in NIL, the Longhorns unquestionably look like a national championship contender, especially after last week's come-from-behind, 24-23 win over Ohio State catapulted them to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.