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Even with a lack of sacks, Steve Sarkisian loves the impact of his edge rush room

by: Evan Vieth3 hours ago
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Colin Simmons (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

If you had told the average Texas fan that their team would have six sacks through three games, two of which came against middle-of-the-road G6 competition, they would’ve called you crazy.

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Texas has prided itself on the strength of its pass rushers since the start of the season. Three of the top four pass rushers last year returned. 32 of 46 (70%) from 2024 came from players who remain on the 2025 team, not to mention players like Brad Spence and Hero Kanu joining the mix this season.

Given that Colin Simmons was seen as one of the best pass rushers in the nation coming into the year, it’s even more surprising that he hasn’t registered a full QB takedown, notching only a joint sack against San Jose State.

But there’s so much context that goes into these stats, as Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian pointed out.

“It’s tough. I think the ball came out on Saturday on average 1.8 seconds. I mean, you can only get so far with somebody in front of you in 1.8 seconds,” Sarkisian said. “People are going to try to attack the holes in our game, and they’re going to try to not get exploited by the strengths that we have in our game.”

PFF marked UTSA’s Malachi Nelson at a 2.45 average time to throw on Saturday, still an extremely fast average for a quarterback at any level. As a result, Texas registered just a single sack, a frustrating outcome for a talented group.

And this wasn’t much different against San Jose State or Ohio State. Both of those QBs’ average times to throw were below 2.7 seconds. For reference, Oklahoma, one of the best pass-rushing teams in the SEC, had Bryce Underwood at around 2.83 seconds on his time to throw.

The Longhorns have such an immense strength that teams are overcompensating to avoid it.

“One of our strengths is our edges. One of our strengths is our pass rush in the multitude of ways that we can get to a quarterback, and so we have to anticipate what they’re going to do to try to combat that,” Sarkisian said. “And part of that is getting the ball out of their hands quickly. Part of that might be moving the pocket some, so we’ve got to remain disciplined in our pass rush lanes. You know, I felt like against San Jose State, we probably missed about three or four sacks, quite frankly, and that changes that number quickly.”

Something is going to give with this Texas defense going forward. The Longhorns are top 15 in the nation in both opponent rush yards per game and per play. Ohio State could not reliably run on the Longhorns, and SJSU was really only able to get to them when the Longhorns were caught selling on the pass. If a team like Florida can’t get Jaden Baugh going, or if Oklahoma can’t establish John Mateer in the run game, they are going to be forced to drop back and throw.

If the defense can stop the run and the short pass game, opponents are going to be forced to look for downfield plays. That’s when these edge rushers can strike.

Texas’ defense has been playing excellent complementary football between the run and the pass for over a season now, and that’s not going to change when they get to the SEC. Teams are going to attempt to throw the ball, and when they do, this pass rush will start getting home. It’s all about patience.

“We’re on a steady pace. As long as we just keep putting in the same work, keep doing our job and making sure that we’re good, we’re going to be great as a team,” safety Jelani McDonald said.

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