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AUSTIN — As Texas stumbled to one of its worst records in program history last season it did so with one of the younger rosters in the nation. The Longhorns had just three scholarship seniors, no juniors and underclassmen played the majority of minutes.

Things already, however, are a little reversed heading into 2017. Texas doesn’t have any seniors, but it has three juniors that are expected to contribute with significant playing time. And it’s also that junior class that is starting to take the reins within the locker room, specifically two transfers — Dylan Osetkowski and Elijah Long.



“The most vocal guys in our program are probably Dylan and Eli, our two transfers,” Smart said on Thursday. “It’s interesting because…those guys have a perspective about them that nobody else has.”



Osetkowski, a transfer from Tulane, sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. Long joined the Longhorns this spring from Mount St. Mary’s and he’ll have to spend this upcoming season on the bench as well as he’s ineligible to play. But that hasn’t stopped them from making their voices heard.



Osetkowski emerged as one of Texas’ most vocal leaders in the locker room last season, Smart said at the time, becoming a player others on the team listened to when he spoke up. But without being able to hit the court it could only go so far. This year, the 6-foot-9, 250-pound athlete, whom Smart has given more responsibility to, is carrying things over to the floor as well.



Osetkowski played two seasons with the Green Wave, averaging 11.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in 32.4 minutes of play in his final season there, before arriving in Austin. There’s little question on how gifted he is athletically (just asked Malik Jefferson after he saw him play in Texas’ scrimmage last year). But now Smart is urging him to grow more mentality, which comes with the vocal role he’s taking on.



“If he wants to, he can be the toughest, meanest, baddest dude on the court,” Smart said. “But it's a mentality first before anything physical before anything skill-wise. It's about just the approach that he takes.”



Despite limited action, Smart has been plenty impressed with Long as well. The newcomer injured his right hand earlier this summer and got the cast off last week, but to compensate the righty started doing his drills left handed. Smart makes his players take 100 3-point shots as a measure to see where they are at and, going left-handed, Long is already up to 63 or 64 makes, Smart said.

"He's been awesome though," Smart said. The work that he's putting. When his right hand gets back to full strength, it will become his weak hand just because of what he's done with his left hand.

"He's just a great worker, been really pleased with him."

Long spent two seasons with the Mountaineers, recording 58 starts, ahead of his transfer. He was thrusted into a leading role on his former team as they made their way to an NCAA Tournament run. Now, he’s one of only three currently scholarship players for Texas that has appeared in the Big Dance.



So Long joins Osetkowski as a player that had to do things a little different than others before they arrived from Texas. They weren’t necessarily highly-touted prospects coming out of high school. They spent time at mid-major programs before entering the Big 12.



That, Smart feels, will only help them.

“One of the things we talk about sometimes is what it means to be a student-athlete at the University of Texas and there’s so many positives that come along with that, but also if you're not careful it can create a level of complacency or entitlement if you don’t battle those things,” Smart said. “Thats a culture component that we worked on, but those two guys have a different perspective.



“They don’t mind speaking up and letting their teammates know how they feel about certain things.”

