95 days until Texas Football: Alfred Collins enters an important year with increased consistency
Inside Texas is putting a new twist on long-time photographer Will Gallagher’s time-honored countdown to Texas football kickoff. In addition to Will’s great pictures, the Inside Texas staff will go through every player on the roster by jersey number and offer a season outlook for each, from five-star to walk-on.
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In addition, we’ll look back at other greats to wear that day’s number, with special reverence to some of Texas’ best.
Today is 95 days until kickoff. No. 95 will be worn in 2023 by Alfred Collins, a senior defensive lineman.
Alfred Collins season outlook
Texas deployed a four-man rotation at defensive tackle last season featuring Keondre Coburn, Moro Ojomo, T’Vondre Sweat, and Byron Murphy to keep the position as fresh as possible, even when opposing offenses racked up 70-80 plays.
Collins saw a good bit of action, but he and Vernon Broughton were relegated to the third line. In 12 games, Collins saw just 260 snaps and recorded 17 tackles.
Consistency became the determining factor for Collins’ future ahead of Texas spring drills. According to head coach Steve Sarkisian, Collins brought what the coaches were looking for during the 15 spring practices.
“I think Alfred has taken another step,” Sarkisian said in March. “We talked a lot about Alfred a year ago about how it wasn’t about the talent, it was about the consistency in the play and his style of play. When Alfred plays that way, which he’s doing right now, where he’s consistent at the point of attack, he can use his length, he has great athleticism, he can close on the ball, and when he plays really violent like he’s doing right now, he’s a real problem.”
A strong spring has Collins primed for a significant workload in the fall. Without Coburn and Ojomo, Texas will need Collins and other defensive tackles to elevate their play in order to maintain the ability to rotate and keep everybody fresh.
Whether other defensive linemen are at a level worthy of joining the rotation remains to be seen. Everything Collins has done since the end of the 2022 season suggests he’s prepared to not just take on that role, but excel in it. He may not start, but he’s in position for a starter’s quantity of snaps in 2023.
Collins has played in 34 games with six starts in his four years at Texas, amassing 65 tackles, 34 of them solo, 10.5 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. He was named a third-team All-Big 12 selection by Athlon Sports prior to the 2022 season a year after he was chosen as a second-team All-Big 12 pick by the same publication.
Collins is a two-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (fall 2020, spring 2021).
Alfred Collins as a recruit
Collins was ranked as the No. 78 overall prospect, the No. 9 defensive lineman, and the No. 8 player in Texas in the 2020 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.
Most recent wearer of No. 95: Poona Ford
Ford, a member of Texas’ 2014 class, tallied 133 tackles in his career with 20.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks. In 2017, he was named the Big 12’s defensive lineman of the year and was a first-team All-Big 12 selection.
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Notable No. 95: Marcus Tubbs
All-Americans to wear No. 95:
Marcus Tubbs, DT, 2003
Joe Cook contributed to this story
