Ranking The Best Big 12 Defensive Units: Defensive Line
After a look at the defensive backs, time to assess the defensive lines in the Big 12.
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#1 Texas
Standout: Byron Murphy
Unheralded: Barryn Sorrell, T’Vondre Sweat
X Factor: Alfred Collins
The Longhorns earn the #1 spot by virtue of arguably the deepest defensive tackle room in college football. The Longhorns can credibly play six different players inside and the second and third teamers would start at many FBS schools. Byron Murphy headlines the defensive tackle group with motor and compact power, Alfred Collins is the upside play with rare qualities who benefitted from an offseason weight gain and T’Vondre Sweat is a reliable stalwart who has played in 48 games over his Horn career. Minnesota transfer Trill Carter was a 24 game starter in Minneapolis. Not your typical 4th DT. True freshman Sydir Mitchell is a future 1st or 2nd day NFL draft pick if he wants to be. Texas also has a couple of interesting situational players behind them as well. Bo Davis‘ biggest problem will be allocating snaps.
On the edge, reliable Barryn Sorrell will continue his third year of leveling up and should increase his increase pressure stats (5.5 sacks, 7 hurries last year) while serving as a run game rock. The last edge piece is 6-6 257 pound sophomore Ethan Burke, who has his best football ahead of him but may not be ready for heavy snaps every week.
The talent distribution strongly suggests that Pete Kwiatkowski experiment with some 3 man big fronts, but we’ll see what the DC has up his sleeve.
#2 Cincinnati
Standouts: Jowon Briggs, Dontay Corleone
Unheralded: Malik Vann
Wild Card: Daniel Grzesiak
If you go strictly by frontline starters, the Bearcats may get the nod over the Longhorns, but they can’t match the endless waves of interior bodies that Texas brings.
Still, defensive tackle duo Jowon Briggs (1st team All AAC) and head of the five families Dontay Corleone (freshman All-American) are a handful. Both play with terrific leverage and have big motors. They can also play interchangeably at nose or 3 technique. Like so many of the league’s best defensive tackles, they’re short (6-0, 6-2) with a high work rate.
They’re complemented solidly on the edge. Redshirt senior Malik Vann is a big defensive end (6-3, 270) who plays with strength and savvy, but he missed most of last season with an injury. He’s back and good to go. Their outside havoc creator is pass rush specialist Daniel Grzesiak, a Utah State transfer who had 8.5 sacks last year while finishing in the top 5 in the Mountain West in pressures. The 6-1, 245 pounder should have inflated numbers due to Corleone and Briggs inside and his penchant for hustle sacks.
Unfortunately for Cincy, this unit is a rose in a weed field. No other Bearcat unit on either side of the ball would rank in the top half of the Big 12 and are probably bottom quartile.
#3 Texas Tech
A legitimate argument can be made for other teams here, but I’ll give the nod to Joey McGuire getting the most out of his guys. They also have decent depth. Texas Tech gets the third spot by virtue of the reliable havoc creation of senior DT duo Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford – a pair of 6-0, 300 pound pinballs that Tech loves to play games with inside – and the unproven but clear upside potential of their outside edge players.
First, the interior. Tech will trade getting gashed on some inside zone runs for inflicting negative plays and they play their guys inside accordingly. Really good interior OL capable of moving their feet and neutralizing leverage with their length will big brother Hutchings and Bradford, but really good interior OL aren’t abundant in the Big 12.
Outside, Tech is all about potential. Senior Myles Cole is a 6-6, 285 specimen that looks like a million bucks, but the production hasn’t been there… yet. In the absence of Tyree Wilson, Tech insiders think this is the year he steps up. On the other side is Syracuse transfer Steve Linton. Technically a linebacker, Litton will spend most of his time lined up on the edge. He’s 6-5 with real quickness, but for some reason Syracuse could never put weight on the senior and tried to play him at defensive end at 215 pounds. He’s up to 240 in Lubbock and Red Raider insiders swear that he’s a flash off of the edge. We’ll see.
The Tech defensive line won’t be as consistent as Texas or Cincy, but they’ll be a handful if edge play pans out.
Honorable Mentions
In no particular order…
UCF
UCF brings back a disruptive group overall, but they cut some corners and took some liberties against lower tier opponents that may not cut it against Kansas State’s offensive line in Manhattan. 5th year senior Tre’Mon Morris-Brash is a stud speed pass rusher (17.5 career sacks), but he’s undersized and can be washed out in the running game. The upside of this group rests on the progress of young Auburn nose tackle transfer Lee Hunter. A Top 5 state of Alabama prep recruit and a top 10 defensive tackle nationally, Hunter left Auburn because, according to him, he was “treated like a dog.” If he’s a dawg on the field, UCF will field a solid bunch. They’d better because the Knights secondary won’t win many jousts.
Baylor
The Bears return perennial defensive end starters Gabe Hall (10.5 sacks over last two years) and TJ Franklin. Both are ideally built 4i ends, but only Hall played up to expectations last season. Franklin supposedly had a good offseason, so we’ll see if he gets back to 2021 form. Nose tackle is crucial to Aranda’s defensive structure and unless big transfer Jerrell Boykins and Tre Emory come through to replace the departed Siaki Ika, Hall and Franklin will only be able to do so much and Baylor’s smaller second and third levels will get worn down.
Oklahoma
Brett Venables brought in so many interior defensive linemen through the portal this offseason that they installed a garage door. The biggest name was Tennessee transfer Da’Jon Terry. After the spring game they brought in more, which suggests that Venables may not have gotten exactly what he needed from the first bunch. Throw enough bodies at the problem and it probably gets better given that every opponent running game with a pulse had their way with the Sooners in 2022. They also return last year’s starters, but they’re average at best.
Outside, Oklahoma looks much better. Wake transfer Rondell Bothroyd (6-3, 275) is a very experienced edge with 31 career starts who notched 6 sacks last season. Ethan Downs is on all of the 2023 preseason All Big 12 teams after compiling 13.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks last year. Downs was apparently good in every game I didn’t watch. Or perhaps the media looked for a familiar name who compiled some stats against Nebraska, West Virginia, Kent State and UTEP while disappearing against anyone good. Depth is solid.
The sheer number of transfers that OU brought in promises improvement, but how much?
The rest of the league is in a transitional phase as TCU desperately searches for players to put around standout sophomore nose tackle Damonic Williams and Kansas State tries to replace the grossly underrated Eli Huggins and 1st rounder Felix Anudike-Uzomah. The Cats will be quick, but too light. The rest of the league’s fronts are somewhere between workmanlike and bad.
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