How Texas has defended mobile quarterbacks in 2024

Texas is well known for its ability to defend the pass, and many have said the Longhorns have the best passing defense in the nation. While Texas isn’t the nation’s best rushing defense, the Longhorns hardly took a step down from last year’s amazing ability to stop the run.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY and get ONE WEEK for just $1]

This Texas team currently ranks No. 13 in rush defense, and those numbers seem come to life when looking at the rushing stats from mobile quarterbacks the Longhorns have faced this year. But a quirky attribute about how statistics are kept in college hide what the true numbers are. Let’s dive in and see how the Longhorn defense is really doing against mobile quarterbacks and see how it may apply to when it has to defend against Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed this Saturday.

First off, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian knows Reed is going to be a unique challenge for his team. So do his players.

“Elite football players. In the couple of games I’ve seen him play, he kind of reminds me of Lamar (Jackson) the way he moves and runs around,” Anthony Hill said Monday. “It’s going to be a good task to try to face him, and we’re just looking forward to the obstacle.”

Added Jahdae Barron, “If he scrambles, you have to know if he’s scrambling to tuck it or if he’s scrambling to make an opportunity for his receiver. Just everybody just doing their job and trusting (Pete Kwiatkowski‘s) plan in keeping him contained.”

And said Michael Taaffe, “Just watching on tape this morning and watching yesterday, watching that full Auburn game play-by-play and realizing Auburn’s got some guys, and he can make some really good guys miss. He can do it with his legs but he can also do it with his arm. He’s got a really, really talented arm, too. I don’t want people to forget that.”

The Texas defense appears to have solidly handled mobile quarterbacks in 2024. Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia has seemingly been the biggest threat on the ground in a game this season by far, and aside from one big play, he averaged 3.3 yards per carry. Texas has held multiple rushing quarterbacks to negative yardage.

(Averages disregard Alex Orji, who didn’t play significant snaps for Michigan against Texas)

However as good as the numbers are below, they aren’t accurate as far as describing how many yards the QBs rushed for. The reason for that is how the NCAA keeps its stats. When a quarterback is sacked, they will subtract the yardage lost from the rushing totals. That gives us misleading stats about how effective quarterbacks are rushing the ball.

At the NFL level they subtract the sacks from the passing yardage given that they are dropping back to pass the ball. So what happens to the rushing totals for opposing mobile quarterbacks when looking at sack-adjusted yardage?

Immediately the numbers become more consistent, with quarterbacks sitting between 4-5 yards per attempt on average. Sure, it isn’t earth-shattering rushing defense, but it is far from what you would consider bad. Either way, this Texas defense has clearly shown the ability to defend the mobile quarterback. Plus, look at the length of the longest runs. Even mobile quarterbacks scramble when attempting to pass the football. The Longhorns have allowed some decent gains, but nothing back-breaking save for Pavia’s rush past Jaylon Guilbeau on the way to the end zone.

The reason for that is simple, this defense is fast and the plays loose. They hardly ever hesitate. The closing speed of Hill is flat out tremendous and is a massive reason why opposing quarterbacks have a hard time rushing against Texas.

Yet the biggest reason is the attention to detail that they take which allows them to play free and fast as Sark likes for them to do. Part of that is when a quarterback manages to get around Texas’ athletic edges and linebackers, the cornerbacks have done nothing but excel in either forcing the QB out of bounds for a minimal gain or back inside into those linebackers and defensive linemen for the same result.

This is a complete Texas defense that will look to limit the gained yardage from Reed.

What do Reed’s stats look like if sack yardage is removed? He’s rushed for 70 or more sack-adjusted yards in five games this season. He has run the ball effectively on two of the top 30 rush defenses he has faced in 2024.

The Texas Longhorns will have their hands full trying to stop the dangerous threat that is Reed. He has the ability to expose mistakes in a bad way, so this defense will need to not only play free and fast but also smart and sound.

[Subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel!]

Preparation for a quarterback like Reed will likely make the difference between a win or a loss.