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What do snap count totals on offense and defense tell us about the Longhorns?

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook10/15/23josephcook89
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Kelvin Banks (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Pro Football Focus’ subjective grades are hot topics of discussion, but their objective data provides valuable information about football teams on a week to week basis. One of those pieces of data is snap counts, which PFF tracks for offense and defense.

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On offense, the 15 players with the most snaps this year are…

  1. LT Kelvin Banks – 428
  2. LG Hayden Conner – 425
  3. RT Christian Jones – 424
  4. QB Quinn Ewers – 417
  5. WR Adonai Mitchell – 369
  6. RG DJ Campbell – 366
  7. WR Xavier Worthy – 365
  8. OC Jake Majors – 350
  9. RB Jonathon Brooks – 278
  10. TE Gunnar Helm – 275
  11. TE Ja’Tavion Sanders – 263
  12. WR Jordan Whittington – 230
  13. RB CJ Baxter – 103
  14. OC Connor Robertson – 89
  15. TE Malik Agbo – 70

Stories told by OL numbers: It should come as no surprise that Banks, Conner, and Jones are among the leaders on the O-line. Majors’ status far down the list is due to his injury early versus Oklahoma. Add 70 or so snaps from Robertson’s total to Majors’ and he’d be near the top of the list. With Campbell, the right guard position has all but become his after splitting snaps with Cole Hutson versus Alabama. Hutson has played in 50 snaps this season, with his absence due to multiple injuries.

Skill stays: The top skill players as far as snap volume for the Longhorns have been Ewers, Mitchell, Worthy, and Brooks, but there’s an obvious star player missing in Sanders. His injury suffered versus Kansas plus limited effectiveness versus Oklahoma cut into his playtime. In reality, he should be with that group.

Balanced personnel: Helm earned a number of snaps in the second half of the contest versus the Jayhawks due to Sanders’ injury. If not for that action, he’d be closer to Whittington’s snap count total. Even so, Helm and Whittington being in the same neighborhood indicates the balance of 11 and 12 personnel the Longhorns have utilized this year. Heavy 12 is still part of the playbook but it’s a bit more of a rarer occurrence, as Agbo’s 70 snaps indicate.

Absences: Keilan Robinson has just 42 offensive snaps in six games. Johntay Cook has 56 in six games. The only other player yet to be mentioned with 40 or more snaps is Jaydon Blue.

Intriguing stat: Byron Murphy has as many offensive snaps as Isaiah Neyor.

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Looking at the defense…

  1. LB Jaylan Ford – 329
  2. LB David Gbenda – 245
  3. NB Jahdae Barron – 243
  4. S Jerrin Thompson – 236
  5. CB Terrance Brooks – 229
  6. EDGE Barryn Sorrell – 217
  7. DT T’Vondre Sweat – 206
  8. CB Gavin Holmes – 198
  9. CB Ryan Watts – 190
  10. CB Malik Muhammad – 188
  11. DT Alfred Collins – 180
  12. LB Anthony Hill – 179
  13. S Kitan Crawford – 176
  14. EDGE Ethan Burke – 172
  15. S: Derek Williams/Byron Murphy – 171

Essential personnel: Ford simply doesn’t leave the field, and Gbenda, Barron, Brooks, and Thompson are viewed to be just as essential. If it weren’t for injury, Watts would likely be in this echelon. Texas rotates plenty at defensive back, but they know that things are held together much better when that group is on the field.

DT rotation: Like last year when the Longhorns had two NFL tackles on the roster, Texas is keeping its interior defensive linemen fresh with plenty of rotation. Sweat is the only defensive tackle with over 200 snaps, though Collins isn’t too far behind at 180. Murphy has 171 defensive snaps, with Vernon Broughton next in snap count at 157.

Safety rotation: After Thompson, the snap count at safety is very balanced. Crawford has 176, followed by Williams at 171, Jalen Catalon at 125, and Michael Taaffe at 97. That’s the extent of the rotation, as B.J. Allen has but one snap on the season.

EDGE is varied: Sorrell sees the most action of any EDGE player, the result of his Jack position being essential personnel no matter what formation the offense lines up in. Behind him, things get a little more varied. Burke is on the field regularly but only when Texas is in its 2-4-5 look. When Texas faces larger personnel packages, Burke typically leaves the field in favor of another DT and Sam LB Jett Bush. That makes up the primary trio when viewing the EDGE position, with Justice Finkley as the only other player in Pete Kwiatkowski’s room with over 100 snaps so far.

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