Walking back from the Texas football facility with sophomores Malik Jefferson and DeShon Elliott after a summer workout, fifth-year senior Paul Boyette thought to casually ask, ‘How old are y’all?’

When the underclassmen said they were born in 1997, Boyette couldn’t help but feel aged.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god. You were almost a 2000 baby,'" Boyette recounted at Big 12 Media Days.

There aren’t any post-millennium players on the Longhorns roster quite yet, but it’s getting close. As is, Texas is a team defined by youth, with seniors like Boyette representing the last remnants of a fading group that arrived under former head coach Mack Brown.

Of Texas’ currently allotted 83 scholarships – the NCAA allows up to 85 – 71 percent belong to underclassmen. The Longhorns are made up of 33 freshmen, 25 sophomores, 13 juniors and 12 seniors.

“I don’t know many teams like this,” said senior offensive tackle Kent Perkins. “The one positive thing about the young guys is they’re all the same – humble, with big hearts and ready to work.”

Strong didn’t inherit a team short on experience, but his roster reshape quickly made that a reality.

In his first year on campus, Strong dismissed nine players for breaking a variety of team rules. That purge removed players Strong considered to be of questionable character, but it also left a lack of depth Strong has labored to bolster over his first two seasons. In addition to the dismissals, the Longhorns have suffered a number of transfers and attrition due to injury, including 11 players leaving the program this offseason.

Changes abound for Texas’ locker room, and it’s left the remaining seniors and juniors – only 11 who arrived at Texas while Mack Brown roamed the sidelines – often wondering where their teammates went.

Underclassmen dominate the Texas roster, which, at least last year, had a negative impact on Texas’ team chemistry despite many Longhorn players publicly calling the 2015 roster “the closest team” they’ve ever been on.

Texas’ 5-7 record – tied for the third-most single season losses in program history – does not speak to a roster that held it together at all times. The team’s Monday press conference following a 50-7 loss to TCU, which dropped the Longhorns to 1-3 on the year, caused a social media circus that was indicative of locker room chemistry issues, sources say. Multiple Texas freshmen responded on Twitter to a rant from junior safety Dylan Haines saying some of his teammates weren’t prepared and the younger players don’t always listen to the older players.

Haines denies there was a rift in Texas’ locker room last season, but he does not back down from what he said.

“Were there some people on a different page than others? Yes. That’s the same on every team. There are some people who have been under different programs and high schools, and they’re reluctant to change. Everyone has to be on the same page. That’s all that was.”

However, sources tell 247Sports, there were times when a divide was evident. Some Texas upperclassmen felt the coaches were unfairly critical of them for the team’s issues and the underclassmen weren’t putting in the work. The underclassmen, for their part, felt the upperclassmen weren’t welcoming enough, at times, and would sometimes isolate younger players — such as Jefferson, the ballyhooed five-star who quickly emerged as the face of the program — for taking their spots.

For Texas’ older leaders, the dynamic in the locker room is ever-changing.

They’re supposed to step forward, but it’s many of the younger players who both dominate headlines and snaps on the field. Boyette, who’s projected to start at defensive tackle, said leadership for the seniors is a matter of commanding respect and younger players understanding their place.

“You have to know your role,” Boyette said. “You have to follow before you can lead. Most of the freshmen understand. … Most everybody on the team has respect for each other.”

Strong often said last season that if an underclassman is better than an upperclassman competing for the same job, the underclassman will win every time. With such a young roster, Texas’ starters and roles are sure to continually shift.

Despite whatever leadership role the seniors take, the Horns remain a team that will win and lose with youth.

For the Longhorns to find success in 2016, the underclassman will have to play well. The seniors also know that they’ll have to lead.

“It takes leaders,” Haines said. “It takes old leaders and it takes young leaders.”

“You don’t have to be a senior to lead,” Boyette added. “Leadership can come from the true freshman. It doesn’t really matter. It’s just guys who want to buckle up and take football more seriously.”

Texas saw 16 true freshman take snaps last season, and it’s expected to be more of the same in 2016. True freshman Shane Buechele is the favorite to start at quarterback, true freshman Zach Shackelford holds the same distinction at center. So does classmate Collin Johnson at wide receiver.

That trio, along with the rest of Texas’ 28-man freshman class, will be expected to contribute immediately. The Longhorns’ much-praised 2015 class (No. 10 in the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings) will also see an expanded role with as many as 10 players slated as potential starters for Texas’ season opener against Notre Dame.

Spurred by youth going through growing pains in 2015, the Longhorns finished with a losing record. But Strong said he’s not troubled by fielding a young team in his critical third season.

“That doesn’t concern me,” Strong said. “All those young guys are in the room. We know them. You just have to be concerned about what you got.”

With such a markedly young locker room, Strong said he’s looking for concerted leadership from his upperclassmen. It’s an area he often criticized his team for lacking last season, and he challenged his seniors once again heading into 2016.

“It’s better than it has been, and if you harp on something enough I think they get the message,” Strong said.

Players such as Boyette have heard the call, and the defensive tackle hosted several team barbeques and team river floating sessions this summer in response. These team gatherings are designed to create a bond, and, in many ways, to welcome a new generation of Longhorns to a locker room of delicate chemistry.

“They don’t feel like they have to obtain the whole city of Austin by themselves,” Boyette said. “They have some older people to look up to.”