Three big questions for Pete Kwiatkowski in 2025

This week we’re going to get one of what will likely be very few media availabilities with Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski for this season. If the Longhorns can make it to some big postseason games then PK will come back out at various media events as he did last year, otherwise he’ll withdraw back to Moncrief until he’s drawn back out in the summer of 2026.

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Whether or not PK sees his shadow and disappears for another year or makes a return for playoff press conferences will come down to a few key factors with this Texas defense. It’s not ideal to ask questions before fall camp when a lot of remaining questions start to find answers on the practice field but here are some of the questions about the Longhorn defense we’ll be asking of PK. Whether he knows the answers yet remains to be seen.

Can the Longhorns cover as well as they did in 2024?

Texas has some literally big shoes to fill up front along the D-line and some proverbially big shoes to fill on the back end. Losing safety Andrew Mukuba (five interceptions, seven pass break-ups) and Thorpe Award winning cornerback Jahdae Barron (five interceptions, 11 pass break-ups) is probably the scarier issue. Those two guys got their hands on a lot of passes and were very good in coverage otherwise in discouraging other pass attempts in their direction.

The Longhorns brought in a number of big defensive tackles to help replace the draft picks along the front but the secondary will rely on more of a youth movement with players such as Jelani McDonald, Kobe Black, and Derek Williams asked to step up.

Can this team match routes as well as in 2025 with the younger faces? Do they have a cornerback anywhere near Barron’s caliber in 1-on-1 coverage? Last year they had two guys on the field at all times between Mukuba and Star Jaylon Guilbeau who could cover slot receivers, if Guilbeau moves to cornerback will the safety and Star positions be able to lock down inside receivers in 2025 like they did in 2024?

This is quietly one of the most important questions of the entire season for Texas. The schedule may not require them to confront these issues but the playoffs are liable to be filled with teams like LSU, Clemson, Ohio State (with their feet under them), Oregon, Alabama, and other squads who could spread and shred a weaker secondary in the passing game.

How do you utilize all these linebackers?

The design of the Texas defense, a base 3-4 that shifts into 2-4-5 formation in nickel and (last year at least), a 1-4-6 dime on third downs, is to always have four linebackers on the field in every package. This of course includes the “Edges” within the linebacker category. The base and nickel defense both employ at least two Edges at a time while the third down dime defense can get three out there rushing the passer.

And yet, Texas still seems to have more talent at linebacker and Edge than they can possibly hope to unlock. How can the Longhorns get the highest possible bang for their buck from keeping so many talented backers and Edges on the roster?

I’m pretty sure we know the answer, but it’d be instructive to hear PK hold court and explain how his defensive scheme will send varying groups of four at opposing offenses. Or perhaps more importantly, what skills the Texas staff has been looking to instill in all of these individual linebackers to turn them into effective pack hunters and not just individual stars.

What did you learn from competing in the expanded playoff?

It seems to me PK learned a few things from losing to Washington in the semi-final back in 2023. The Huskies absolutely eviscerated a Longhorn defense which had shown cracks in pass defense all year. From that disaster, the Longhorns remade the pass defense with new schemes, new personnel, and doubled down further on existing efforts to improve the quality of pass-rush after Washington’s Joe Moore-winning O-line totally stymied the edge rush from the ‘Horns.

Did PK take any lessons from competing in an expanded playoff?

One obvious challenge the Longhorns had to deal with was facing a wider variety of opponents en route to the National Championship.

• First they rematched with Georgia in the SEC Championship and had to deal with that multiple, pro-style offense which transformed into a sort of power-spread with Gunner Stockton at halftime.
• Round one of the playoffs featured a pro-spread, “power-raid” sort of offense from Clemson with highly skilled dual-threat Cade Klubnik at the helm.
• In the second round they got gun-option Arizona State, who hammered away at them with big Cam Skattebo and dual-threat quarterback Sam Leavitt while going for it on six different fourth downs (and converting three).
• Finally in the semi-final Texas faced a different brand of pro-spread from Ohio State with the Buckeyes’ perennially elite wide receiver corps.
• Waiting for Texas in the title, had they made it, was either a wide zone Penn State team or the power-option Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Was there anything to take from facing any of these particular teams or styles? How about the flexibility it required to adjust from game to game against these squads? Fighting your way through a field of different teams is now the name of the game in college football and if there are lessons to be learned in how to do it Texas needs to learn them.

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The Longhorns are expected to be great on defense again in 2025 owing to an abundance of talent and hard work patching holes up front in the transfer portal. Is PK ready to coordinate it into a championship unit?