Inside Texas Today: Consistency key for Alfred Collins in Year 3
Welcome to Inside Texas Today! Each weekday morning, Inside Texas Today will provide the latest news and notes from around the Forty Acres, including notable events, analysis, and where to watch Texas Longhorns sports that day.
Here’s the Thursday, March 24, 2022 edition.
[Get four months of Inside Texas Plus for just $1]
Texas looking for Collins to play ‘to his standard’
After a promising freshman season in 2020, including a standout performance in his only start versus Colorado in the 2020 Alamo Bowl, there were high expectations for Alfred Collins in 2021. Even after Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski elected to move him from the interior of the defensive line to the edge, there was hope Collins and Jacoby Jones would provide a formidable presence due to their size and athleticism.
Trading off with Jones on the edge, Collins found some success during the first half of the season. He tallied nine tackles, with 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks during the first six games of the season. But as Texas’ season headed south, so too did Collins’ effectiveness.
Collins started the four games following Jones’ injury in the Red River Shootout. Like the rest of the Longhorn defense, there wasn’t enough consistency in his performance. Texas’ defenders failed to set the edge on multiple occasions, and as a result didn’t earn the right to rush the passer. Collins didn’t record a sack in the final six games of the season, and lost his starting spot versus West Virginia.
He finished the year with 25 tackles, 5.0 for loss, and 2.0 sacks. He registered only four quarterback hurries in 12 games, and had four games where he did not make a tackle.
During the offseason, the coaches decided to move Collins back to defensive tackle, where he had almost as much production during his freshman season as he did in his sophomore campaign. There, Texas wants the 2020 All-American Bowl participant to find what eluded him last season: consistency.
“It’s about really trusting your fundamentals, your techniques, playing with really good pad level, and playing with great effort, because it’s not about the talent,” Sarkisian said Tuesday. “What we’re trying to minimize up front is being ‘sometime’ players, where you make one really great play and have two average plays. I think we have the capability to be dominant play in and play out.”
“You got to empty the tank to do that,” Sarkisian continued. “But it’s okay to empty the tank knowing we’re going to have a pretty good rotation at that position. So for Alfred, it’s trust in fundamentals, the techniques, and playing with a level of consistency to his capability, to his standard.”
Collins is competing with senior Moro Ojomo for first-string snaps, and both Myron Warren and Vernon Broughton are working to unseat him from his position on the depth chart.
But for someone considered behind the scenes to be one of the most talented players in the program, it’ll be about bringing full effort rep after rep after rep in order to become the best version of himself.
Texas viewing for 3/24
No. 1 men’s swimming and diving – NCAA Championships – McAuley Aquatic Center – Atlanta, Ga. – 9 a.m./5 p.m. – Inside Texas official thread – ESPN3
