On Texas Football: Will the Longhorns’ defense take the next step forward?
On the latest video episode of On Texas Football’s Roundup, Inside Texas’ Bobby Burton and Ian Wells take an X’s and O’s examination of the Longhorns’ defense and debate if the unit is ready to take the next step forward as the Big 12 Conference preseason favorite and off the improve from 2021.
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Last season was the just fifth time since Texas’ appearance in the national championship game in 2009 that the Longhorns’ had a defense allowed an average of less than 24 points per game.
The key to making that happen, according to Boyd, is that in its best defensive years it had “at least one NFL-level defensive tackle to muck up the works in the run game as well as veteran linebackers and NFL-rich secondaries.”
“For Texas that formula has been pretty approachable,” Boyd added. “They routinely have at least one NFL defensive tackle. Loading up the secondary with NFL or fringe NFL guys is also very feasible for Texas, because the state produces such an abundance of skilled talent on both sides of the ball.
“It’s been (finding and developing) veteran linebackers has been really tough for them. They had a period where every three years they’d be good on defense, and it was because every three years they’d have veteran linebackers and in between they’d be terrible.”
Boyd added that, interestingly enough, a dominant pass rush was generally not a defining feature for any of those better Texas defenses.
“Some of the better pass rush years were 2013, when Jackson Jeffcoat and Cedric Reed both had over 10 sacks,” Boyd explained. “That was a decent defense, but it didn’t rank with these other ones that were better.”
Burton predicted before the 2022 season that the Longhorns would be better than the previous year because they returned players like Jaylan Ford and DeMarvion Overshown.
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“I think that was probably one of the bigger question marks heading into last year,” Boyd said. “People were concerned that we could really expect Texas’ linebackers to be good. And they were. They were fantastic, bbviously. Jaylan Ford was the runner up to the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and DeMarvion was drafted higher than I thought he would be. They both had great seasons.
“They do have Jaylan Ford back so that’ll certainly help this year. It looks like they’re recruiting the right guys. I think that’s really been the ticket for Texas.”
Does Texas have the defensive tackles to be a good defensive group this season?
“I think that they do,” Boyd said. “One of T’Vondre Sweat or Byron Murphy is probably going to be a very, very good player. It’s possible that Alfred Collins can also fit into that. And then I think Trill Carter is a lot better depth than most teams. I think even in a bind that they have some guys that could be good.”
Burton asked Boyd about the Longhorns’ needs entering the season and mentioned that depth at EDGE might be the defensive weakness.
You’ll have to go check out the video to get that answer. There’s plenty more to catch up on in the video, so go check it out in its entirety.
