On Texas Football - State of the Program: Horns add defensive assistant; OL is thriving; recruiting keeps rolling
On the latest video episode of On Texas Football’s State of the Program, Inside Texas’s Bobby Burton and Eric Nahlin discuss the hiring of a defensive assistant for the Longhorns, offensive line news, and some recruiting updates.
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Texas has hired Jacquies Smith to help Pete Kwiatkowski coach defensive ends. Smith is a Dallas South Oak Cliff product and enjoyed a solid NFL career after playing and excelling at Missouri. He heads to the 40 Acres to help get the most out of the Texas pass rush after founding and coaching Trench Warfare in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
“His company in Dallas is where he’s made a lot of connections,” said Nahlin, the publisher of InsideTexas.com, about Smith. “It looks like this is his path to coaching. But this is also Texas working to keep in tune with what’s going on in the Dallas area. Like we talk about all the time, they’ve got to have the connections. This kind of helps keeps Texas tied into that area.”
Burton said Texas improved in its pass rush last season but needs to “follow through with getting the guy on the ground a little bit more.” He asked Nahlin if he thought it’s just a matter of tweaks needing to happen.
“They’re gonna get it right,” Nahlin explained. “And I think this is going to help out since he’ll be working with the defensive ends. Texas is gonna keep doing what it needs to do to improve the program. We started seeing a lot of incremental improvements last year. I think this is a probably another incremental improvement.”
Burton commented on reports that offensive lineman DJ Campbell is having a terrific offseason despite starting it injured and will press to be a part of the starting lineup in the fall.
“Campbell’s improvement is going to allow them to do other things with Cole Hutson,” Nahlin opined. “Cole was a 13-game starter last year so you don’t just automatically go to the bench, you know that. They’re going to try to find a role for him. Of course, Campbell still has to beat him out on the field. August is going to be big for that. But Hutson is projecting a lot more at center already.”
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Is Texas heading into the season eight-deep in the offensive line? Burton said the Longhorns have “pieces to the puzzle” but don’t know exactly where they will all fit.
“Texas is definitely getting there,” Nahlin said. “Physically they’re more than ready. Athletically they’ve been ready since they stepped on campus because they’re athletic dudes. Texas needs to build for the future at the same time they got to win games. In the immediate, you got to keep those guys happy. You’ve got to develop them.
“I think you’re gonna see a lot more rotations on the offensive line than we’ve seen in the past to get these guys reps.”
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Texas now has 12 commitments for the Class of 2024, with 12 more holes to fill. Go check out the rest of the video for a lot more information and insight.
