How does Jalen Catalon fit in the Texas secondary?
Texas made its third addition from the transfer portal and second to the secondary yesterday with news of Jalen Catalon‘s commitment to transfer from Arkansas.
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Gavin Holmes, the Wake Forest transfer also joining the Texas secondary, was something of an unheralded addition who snuck in on National Signing Day. He had 23 tackles for Wake Forest, which belied his true impact of playing a lot of press-man coverage and breaking up nine passes. Catalon is much better known after being a blue-chip from DFW who chose Arkansas over Texas out of high school, was All-SEC and a freshman All-American in 2020, and was a part of obliterating Texas in 2021 before an injury ended his season.
He’s been dinged up ever since and has chosen to try and put together some more healthy seasons in a new location after his defensive coordinator Barry Odom left to be head coach at UNLV. Assuming Catalon can get back on form and stay healthy, where does his skill set fit in the Texas secondary?
Catalon at Arkansas
Catalon’s success at Arkansas was entirely unsurprising given his profile and where they plugged him in under Odom in that 2020 season.
Coming out of Mansfield, he was a 5-foot-9, 188 pounder who was only clocked at 4.71 in the 40 yard dash at The Opening. However he was an absolute ballhawk on defense in high school AND a two-way player who starred at quarterback as a junior. His heavy usage probably contributed to an ACL tear of his knee but after a redshirt season at Arkansas he was healed up, bulked up to around 200 pounds, and ready to go.
Odom installed the Flyover defense and put Catalon at the middle safety position where he could play robber coverage in the middle of the field and get involved quickly in the run game. He rewarded the choice with 99 tackles and three interceptions.
He played the same role in 2021 and was on track for similar production before an injury. In 2022 he played only a single game, the season opener against Cincinnati, before another injury. In that game the Hogs played more of a traditional 4-2-5 and in order to keep Catalon in position to rob routes and hang around the box like he did in the 3-2-6 Flyover, they played him at boundary safety.
This is the main defensive look Texas employs as well. Catalon had eight tackles by the third quarter before going down with a shoulder injury which ended his season.
This sort of role is really where Catalon shines. He’s a great tackler who takes good angles coming downhill and knows how to avoid the wash and get to the ball.
This is the injury concern as well though. He’s a physical, undersized player who specializes in racing into the action.
In coverage he has the same short area quickness he employs to be a good run defender, but his main strength is taking in a lot of inputs with his eyes and positioning himself. He’s not a pure man coverage player but he can pick up routes in zone.
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Catalon at Texas
You could make an argument it’d be good for Catalon to move further off the ball and have a chance to prolong his career by avoiding so many violent hits. However, Catalon’s excellence in this game is really his ability to navigate playing around bigger bodies and making tackles. He’s not an elite athlete in space or a brilliant player in coverage, he’s a pure football player who can make plays when he’s positioned around the ball.
In the Texas defense you put a player like that at boundary safety so he can hang around where the action is hot.
Texas had effective play in the boundary this last season from Jerrin Thompson, a physical player in his own right who showed remarkable toughness in 2022 playing through issues while totaling 83 tackles, seven pass break-ups, and an interception. Their need in the offseason was to find a replacement for steady senior Anthony Cook, who played cornerback his first two seasons at Texas, nickel his second two, and then free safety last year.
The solution is now obvious with the addition of Catalon. Texas will move Thompson to field safety to replace Cook and use Catalon at boundary safety where he can be a regular addition to the box.
This gives Texas a pair of really good, run-stopping safeties to pair with a deep collection of skilled defensive backs at cornerback and nickel. If Catalon has injury issues the Longhorns have a lot of options between Thompson and Michael Taaffe. The offseason will now be focused on getting Thompson comfortable in the wider spaces at field safety while working to get Kitan Crawford or another defensive back up to speed as a back-up so the Longhorns can be two-deep at either position.
If the Longhorns can get solid play at Will linebacker and the Buck edge position, the addition of Catalon is going to make this an exceptionally formidable run defense which is very hard to make real headway against. Even if an offense can hit a crease up front, Catalon and Thompson will limit the damage opposing teams can deal.
Texas is going to bring a very talented group of man coverage defenders into 2023 and now have a pair of play-making safeties to put over the top in Catalon and Thompson. They’re just a pass-rush away from fielding one of the best defenses we’ve seen in Austin in a long time.
