Steve Sarkisian talks Texas defensive line, identifies two players standing out

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian knows that to achieve better results in 2022, the defensive line has to do its part. The Longhorns finished this past season with a total of 22 sacks, ranking just seventh in the Big 12.

Sarkisian said in a Monday interview that pass rushing has been a major point of emphasis for the team this offseason, and he has started to see progress in that area. With the team now a few practices into fall camp, the coach highlighted a pair of players who have been setting the tone thus far.

“There’s different guys who have had different things to work on for their game,” Sarkisian said. “(Keondre) Coburn, I feel him rushing the passer, which is something we wanted him to do. I didn’t want him to be a one-dimensional player. He’s gotta have the ability to rush the passer.

“Two guys that have jumped out to me so far in five days have been Byron Murphy and Vernon Broughton. They are exploding off the football. They’re playing hard. They’re playing with great effort. Getting around the ball. That’s been positive.”

A four-star recruit from the 2021 class, Murphy ranked as the No. 36 defensive lineman according to On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. He played in all 12 games, making one start and finishing the season with 15 tackles and two sacks. Broughton redshirted in 2020 before Sarkisian arrived and played a limited role for the Longhorns this past season. Now it seems both players, along with Coburn, could have an opportunity to start in 2022.

But outside of those players, Steve Sarkisian is looking for more consistency from his defensive line. The Longhorns coach went on to rattle off a few more names that still have some work to do to get on his good side.

“(There are) guys that have flashed that I would love to see a little more consistency and I talked to them about this,” Sarkisian said. “(T’Vondre) Sweat (is) definitely one of those guys. Alfred (Collins) another one of those guys. You see it in ’em and there’s flashes whether it’s a three-play spurt or two-play spurt. Now we need to get that consistency out of them. That’s what’s gonna take them to that next level. Then Moro (Ojomo) kind of working himself back into it, it’s getting him back to that level of player we know he’s capable of being. So those are kind of your frontline guys.

“The younger guys, you see flashes. Like Jaray Bledsoe, what a pass rusher. But we’ve gotta make him a complete player. Zac Swanson, great toughness. Kris Ross, really good quickness. Aaron Bryant, good job of holding the point of attack. But we need the complete player out of all those guys. So everybody’s got stuff to work on, but they’re definitely impactful at practice.”

Thankfully, Texas still have a few more weeks before the season starts to get its defensive line in shape. Hopefully by the time the Longhorns kick off the season on Sept. 3 against Louisiana-Monroe, Sarkisian will be seeing more consistency out of the group.