DeMarvion Overshown reveals why he believes Texas will win more close games in 2022

The Texas Longhorns started out pretty strong out of the gates last year with a 4-1 overall record in their first five games. Then the team proceeded to lose six straight down the stretch, including an embarrassing 57-56 overtime loss to the Kansas Jayhawks. The ‘Horns lost five of those six games by eight points or less and coming into the 2022-2023 season, the team is focusing on locking in and finishing their games. Speaking at Big 12 Media Days in Austin, Texas on ESPNU’s broadcast, Texas linebacker DeMarvion Overshown talked about what the Longhorns have been working on in the spring and during practices to improve on finishing all four quarters of their games.

“The end of our workouts, all of them—practices—are the hardest part of our workouts. So, really implanting like, “Ok, guys. This is the fourth quarter. We got to lock in mentally.” Like, physically we’re there. It’s just the mental aspect of it, just making sure everybody knows the importance of this quarter. And, that’s basically what we’ve been digging into since spring—since January 1st. We’re not gonna let that be the reason why we lose this year,” Overshown said on Thursday.

DeMarvion Overshown also talked about Gary Patterson

Gary Patterson’s official title for the ‘Horns is special assistant to the head coach. His focus, naturally, has been on the defense. However, the capacity he’s been working in has remained unclear. Overshown was asked about this at Big 12 Media Days by Dusty Dvoracek.

“Just coaching us up on the little things,” the gifted Texas linebacker said. “Now, Coach Patterson’s is able to like, if you’re able to get him one on one, just dial up the small things that you don’t really get to cover in the meetings. The on-field, like, ‘Ok, if you do this, you really don’t have to take these extra steps to make that play.’ So, him coming from his resume, anything you get from here, you’re gonna sit down and you’re gonna listen.”

DeMarvion Overshown is, of course, right. When Gary Patterson tells you something about your defensive play, it’s best to listen to him. Patterson is a certified defensive mad scientist. He made his career on getting the most out of his defenses at TCU.

Having Patterson on staff also makes things easier for defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. Now in his second season at Texas, having a coach like Patterson to pay attention to the little things frees him up to attack the big picture.

“So, the things that you know, we’re in the meeting room and the coach (Kwiatkowski) is like, there’s 12-13 of us in there,” DeMarvion Overshown explained how Kwiatkowski works with groups, while Patterson works with individuals. “So, he’s hitting everybody with the same subject.”

Texas hopes that Patterson will help the defense improve enough at doing the little things right that it makes a big difference in 2022.

On3’s Daniel Morrison also contributed to this article.