J.D. PicKell: Defensive improvement will be important for Texas in 2022

On3’s, J.D. PicKell continues to dissect college football ahead of the start of the 2022 campaign. And recently, the college football analyst gave his perspective on the Texas Longhorns and what will make them successful this year. According to PicKell, defensive improvement will be an essential part of Texas’ bounce back in 2022.

“For Texas to get where they want to go, defenses gotta get better,” said PicKell. “They allowed 31 points a game in 2021; that’s not gonna cut it if you can’t stop anybody, you got problems in Austin.”

The Longhorns endured a six-game losing streak over the last seven games to close the 2021 season. That losing streak started with a loss in the Red River Rivalry against their bitter rival Oklahoma Sooners and ended with an upset defeat at the hands of the Kansas Jayhawks. During the losing streak, the Longhorns had a series of four games in which they led at halftime only to squander the lead in the second half.

The Longhorns defense struggled as a unit, but PicKell addressed a few individuals who are supposed to be the leaders on the defensive side of the ball. One in particular who he took the task was the Longhorns linebacker Demarvion Overshown.

“So what does a guy like Demarvion Overshown put on tape this coming year? Because a lot of people are looking to him to be a leader for this defense. The biggest thing for me is what does this defense do from an effort standpoint. There were times I saw last year guys like Demarvion Oversham, who’s supposed to be leaders on this defense, jogging after a screenplay against Kansas.”

“So the defense needs to improve… from a culture standpoint. We talked about that with Texas a lot. The revamp needs to start on defense. overshown stepping up as a leader is one of the first dominoes to fall in that rebuild.”

The Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian proved over the course of last season that he is capable of putting together a solid game plan for the offense. But There was no touch display for their defense. It was almost as if the Texas defense was nonexistent for the parts of the 2021 season. That resulted in arguably one of the worst seasons for the Longhorns in recent history. If Texas is to bounce back from their abysmal showing last year, they will need the defense to play at its apex for the entirety of the season, unlike last year.