Texas cornerback takes shot at Baylor ahead of matchup

Texas cornerback Josh Thompson took a shot at Baylor and Baylor fans ahead of the Longhorns road trip to McLane Stadium on Saturday.

Thompson, who’s in his fifth year at Texas, rated the McLane Stadium environment a “3” out of 10.

“Texas DB Josh Thompson was asked why he rated Baylor’s environment as a 3 and said everyone gets pumped up to play Texas,” OrangeBloods’ Anwar Richardson said. “He said the most hostile road environment he’s played in was at Iowa State.”

Josh Thompson has played in McLane Stadium just one time in his Texas career. The Longhorns played at Baylor in 2017 and 2019. Thompson recorded one tackle on special teams in 2017, and missed the 2019 road trip due to injury.

Josh Thompson has had a breakout season for the Longhorns defense, with 26 tackles, one tackle for loss an interception and a fumble recovery in six games.

In his Texas career, Thompson has recorded 100 tackles, five tackles for loss, two interceptions and six passes deflected.

Texas enters Saturday’s matchup with Baylor coming off of a bye week. Prior to the bye, the Longhorns gave up a 14-point advantage on the way to a 32-24 loss to Oklahoma State. Now sitting at 4-3 in Steve Sarkisian’s first season as head coach, Texas will look to upset the 16-ranked Bears.

To do so, the Longhorns will have to do something they’ve struggled with in their two most recent losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State: put the game away.

“It’s not about our capability to perform, we’ve proven that (we can perform),” Steve Sarkisian said. “We’ve shown that in the first half of games, even for three quarters. But that ability to finish was obviously a big point of emphasis for us last week, and so we did as much psychological work on that as we did from a physical standpoint.”

The Longhorns head coach showed the team a popular motivational video called “What if he falls?” The video depicts free-climber Alex Honnold who climbs the 3,200 feet of El Capitan at Yosemite National Park without a rope. Honnold could’ve quit many times on the way up the mountain but finishes strong.

“Finishing games, and winning those tight games, I think is somewhat contagious,” Sarkisian said. “Because when you can do it once, when you can do it twice, you start to build that confidence and belief in doing it. But you have to do it the first time, to do it the second time, then the third and the fourth and then it starts to become just really who you are.”