Video: Steve Sarkisian uses critical hustle moment in rivalry game to illustrate what Texas currently lacks

Silas Bolden is on the BC Lions' roster in the CFL now, about as far from the Cotton Bowl as a receiver can get. However, the play he made there in October of 2024 during the Red River Rivalry game has never left Austin.

Displeased with some of the effort on the field by his Longhorns recently, Sarkisian went into the archive to pull out a special play from Bolden to drive a point home.

Here's the scene from a few years back. Texas led Oklahoma 7-3 late in the second quarter of the 2024 Red River Rivalry, the first meeting between the two as SEC members and a matchup of No. 1 against No. 18. Quinn Ewers hit Ryan Wingo for 44 yards, and Quintrevion Wisner took a handoff and broke toward the goal line. Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings knocked the ball loose at the 2, and it rolled into the end zone with Sooners chasing.

Bolden got there first. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound receiver beat Oklahoma linebacker Danny Stutsman to the ball after executing a block at the line of scrimmage during the outside zone play, and his hustle and effort led to a recovered fumble in the corner of the endzone for a Longhorn touchdown. A four-point game became two scores, sparked a 14-0 Texas stretch, and the Longhorns pulled away for a 34-3 win.

Sarkisian named it that day. "That to me, that was our culture that Silas has fit in beautifully, too," he said. "That, in my opinion, really kind of kick started us there in that second quarter." He called it a culture play, and the label stuck.

The clip still runs in team meetings even though Bolden has been gone for a year. Bolden was not the biggest name in the receiver room, only played 10-15 snaps per game or so, and certainly wasn't a player the offense was built around, but he understood, embraced, and executed his role. He was a portal addition handling return work and rotational snaps, yet he sprinted 40 yards to finish a run that he had no business being a part of, but because football is a game where you never know the plays that can swing momentum and decide a game, he was presented with an opportunity and capitalized on it.

Bolden came to Texas in January of 2024 out of Oregon State, where he had put up 23 catches for 305 yards and four scores in 2022 and earned second-team All-Pac-12 as a returner. He took over as the Longhorns' punt returner and broke a 75-yard punt return touchdown in the Peach Bowl against Arizona State, the program's first since Xavier Worthy in 2023. He went undrafted in 2025, spent time with the Vikings and the Texans' practice squad, played in the UFL with the Dallas Renegades, and signed with the BC Lions this spring.

That play though, forgotten by so many, is a perfect example of hustle and effort that Sark and his staff are continually trying to embed each season. You can install that in a walkthrough and demand it in a drill, but seeing a respected player execute it in the biggest rivalry game on the schedule carries a totally different weight.

See how Sark brought that moment back to life in a team meeting to drive his point home in the clip.

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