Barryn Sorrell’s prowess is part of the Longhorns’ answer at EDGE
One of the questions for the Texas football team heading into the 2023 season is finding an EDGE rusher to pressure the opposing quarterback and make plays in the offensive backfield. So it’s a good sign that junior defensive end Barryn Sorrell and his progress from the edge has been one of the most talked about topics of Spring drills.
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“I’d say Spring has been a very, very positive thing for me,” Sorrell said Thursday. “I’m returning from being here last year, and I had a lot of film (of my play) so I knew what I wanted to work on and we get a lot of practices to work on it. Obviously I’ve been working on my pass rush as being more consistent and in bringing a pass rusher to Texas.”
Sorrell, a 6-foot-4, 262-pounder from New Orleans, has played in 19 games for the Longhorns over the past two seasons, amassing 51 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss and 5 ½ sacks. All those sacks as well as a forced fumble, seven quarterback hurries and nine of his stops for a loss came in 2022 when he started 10 games and became a solid member of the EDGE rotation.
“I definitely want to establish myself as a pass rusher this year and doing more than what I did last year,” Sorrell said. “I know I can stop the run but I also want to open my game up on the other side and show what I can do.”
Sorrell finished the year as an honorable mention All-Big 12 honoree after racking up 44 tackles. Now Sorrell is the unquestioned bell cow on the EDGE, and his attention in the offseason to his strength and conditioning has him focused on a lofty goal.
“I want to have double digit sacks,” he said. “I had 5 and a half last year and now I want to get 10.”
No Texas player has had more that 5 ½ sacks in a season since Charles Omenihu in the 2018 season. The Longhorns had 27 sacks as a team last year, up from just 20 in 2021.
Sorrell thinks the difference for him will be the work he’s done on his technique.
“The biggest thing is getting off blocks,” Sorrell explained “I’ve had to get off blocks before but I definitely want to be more consistent in keeping people’s hands off.”
Sorrell is anxious to see how his fellow defensive lineman will play in Saturday’s Orange-White Game that ends Spring drills.
“I think this will be a good measuring stick,” Sorrell said. “Just the ability to be able to get better, to see what you did the last practice and then go off that and get better with the next practice.”
