Quarterly report: Grading Texas by position (defense)

Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski entered his second season with quite a bit to prove after struggles in his first. His reputation earned over years at Washington and Boise State was thrown out by many due to one poor year — a year where talent was clearly deficient at a number of key positions.

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Entering this season, PK and his coaches weren’t afforded as many portal “draft selections” as the offense, meaning they were going to need to make do with players returning from the previous disappointing season.

Fortunately three key factors worked in PK’s favor to improve that group:

1. Young, promising players ready to receive more snaps
2. Older players still with room for improvement
3. Want-to and buy-in

PK was able to add Ryan Watts at corner and Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey at linebacker, but for the most part, the story on defense has been development. They are not perfect on that side of the ball, but they are clearly better in every facet year-over-year.

Interior D-Line: A-

At times last season the interior defensive line was incorrectly blamed for poor run defense. Too often they did their job while there were breakdowns on the edge or behind them at linebacker. This year they’re able to stunt more often, but much of the design of the defense remains with the goal to funnel the ball carrier to the linebackers.

Individually the interior hasn’t exactly stuffed the stat sheet, but they play a deep rotation and we’ve seen much more penetration leading to flushed pockets that don’t show up in the box score. Through three games, the six notable tackles have combined for 32 tackles, 3 losses, and 1.5 sacks.

Depending on who’s in the game, run defense could improve some, but overall this group is playing well, and almost to its talent level. A healthy Alfred Collins should improve playmaking.

Edge: B

When accounting for every factor, Barryn Sorrell might be the most important player on defense right now. Not setting a hard edge in the run game was the major point where run defense broke down last season. We saw that again for one play versus Alabama, but other than that, run contain has been very good.

Both Sorrell and Ovie Oghoufo are playing the run better, but as pass rushers they do get too far upfield. That can be a tough habit to break because you think the QB is right around the corner, but really he’s taking advantage of the lane you just created.

Sorrell is going to be a very good Longhorn, but like the offensive line, this group won’t truly hit its stride until the true freshman become rotational and depth players.

Linebacker: B

Jaylan Ford struggled in the opener and then played a role in the long touchdown against Bama, but since then he’s been much improved. He seems to be seeing plays develop faster and faster. Inside info points towards him being an early to mid-round draft pick. If that’s the case, we’ll see the junior continue to improve throughout the season.

DeMarvion Overshown receives the ‘bad luck’ award. He’s been called for two highly questionable calls that have overshadowed his athletic and enthusiastic play. Though he’s improved off the ball, he’s still not a read and react linebacker. What he is, he’s a dangerous weapon the defensive play caller uses to point and shoot.

Tucker-Dorsey has played well as the third linebacker. He’ll get the start this weekend as Overshown serves his first half suspension. That’s not the worst thing, he’ll be fun to watch clean up the Tech power backs.

Safety/Star: B+

Positionally I’d be more inclined to count Star with the corners since they’re more similar in traits. Both Jahdae Barron and Jaylon Guilbeau were corners this spring, after all. But I wanted to grade them the same as the safeties so I stuck them here. This position group gets a slight bump for how difficult the position is to play.

To me, safety is the most improved position on the team. Both Anthony Cook and Jerrin Thompson underscore the value of intelligence in the back-end, plus their effort level has been exceptional. One play Cook is fighting through blocks to tackle the screen, the next Thompson is coming from a deep position to throw his body at the ball carrier in run support.

We often joke about *some* safeties being a ‘coach on the field’ but Thompson received one of the better compliments we heard this summer. Said a source, “he’s the best at conveying the messages from the coaches to the rest of the team.” He does that on the field, too. Communication is key at the position and Thompson is the leader in that regard. Communication will be huge this weekend in front of a belligerent crowd and whirring tortillas.

Cornerback: B

I wanted to boost this grade to a B+. The corners have played well, but there are signs they’re going to pay a steep price for poor eye discipline. D’Shawn Jamison was bailed out by an illegal formation penalty and Watts benefitted from a big drop. Watts was also beat by a double pass, but coverage was pretty good. It kind of feels like I’m nitpicking here. Jamison does have a pick-six and almost picked another one versus Alabama.

This is a strong duo for the way the conference is shaping up. They’re active and they’re physical. If Jamison keeps his eye discipline, he could be All-Conference this year. Watts is great as an overhang defender when he doesn’t have coverage duties.

It’s hard not to be excited about the way Jamier Johnson and Austin Jordan have played. Johnson’s showing to be the heir apparent to Jamison’s starter snaps next year. Jordan is ahead of schedule in his development.

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Similar to the offense, the defense is playing well but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. More snaps together should lead to further cohesion, and probably improve team playmaking ability. I love the effort they’re playing with — that travels to any environment. They are clearly comfortable within the scheme.

This side of the ball doesn’t yet have the baseline talent of the offense. As the staff continues to develop and stockpile talent we’ll see more playmaking as defined by sacks, tackles for loss, pressures, forced fumbles, and interceptions.

That doesn’t mean they can’t be one of the better defenses in the Big 12 this year. That seems almost certain at this point.