Secondary talent and experience can help Texas overcome the ghosts of 2023

How much do Texas fans remember about the last drive of the 2023 Red River Shootout? Between the sweltering Dallas heat, the craziness of the mixed-fandom crowd, and the intensity of the final minute and 17 seconds of one of the most historic rivalries in college sports, it may have been easy for Texas fans to have missed some important details of one of the biggest blemishes on an otherwise impressive resume for Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.

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Here’s what happened.

Dillon Gabriel found Drake Stoops between two linebackers for a quick first down. Next, Gabriel threw across his body to Jalil Farooq, whose quick first step lead to a poor tackle attempt from then-freshman Malik Muhammad, playing in just the second game of his career where he was on the field for over 40 snaps. Quickly the Sooners had passed the 50 with just over a minute to go.

As Gabriel took his next snap, the Longhorns showed a stock cover two package out of nickel. With a nice step up in the pocket, Gabriel found Stoops again on the run, this time for a 28-yard gain down to the Texas 20.

One play later, a pass interference by sophomore (and current Illinois Illini) Terrance Brooks took the Sooners inside the 10-yard line. Two plays later, Nic Anderson was alone with the football in the back of the end zone, and the Sooners had broken hopes of a perfect season for Texas.

It’s difficult to pin down the person to blame for that last play. Senior linebacker David Gbenda received a lot of flack for his efforts on the play last year, but he wasn’t the only person wearing burnt orange at fault.

You could blame it on Kwiatkowski, whose corner blitz resulted in minimal pressure on Gabriel.

Or on the blitzers themselves, as Brooks and sophomore EDGE Ethan Burke were completely contained by senior left tackle Walter Rouse, while middle linebacker Jaylan Ford was completely nullified by running back Tawee Walker. Senior safety (and current Auburn Tiger) Jerrin Thompson did his best, but he was unable to make a play on the ball.

There are a few takeaways that stand out from all six of those plays that led to Texas’ demise last year. One of the most obvious critiques does go toward Kwiatkowski, who likely made the wrong play call on that final play and asked his players to play far too relaxed on the plays prior. But what sticks out personnel-wise is both the age and the names of those who made mistakes.

Brooks, Thompson, and Ford are no longer on the Longhorns. Though all three, especially Ford, were key contributors to last year’s College Football Playoff team, they all showed their collective weaknesses in the same moment. Ford was PFF’s lowest-rated coverage player for Texas in 2023, and Brooks was rated lower than all four other CBs who took over 100 snaps last season.

Secondly, players like Burke and Muhammad were underclassmen, and Muhammad especially had a tough game against the Sooners. Despite a special teams touchdown, he allowed two first downs on his only two targeted passes, including the aforementioned missed tackle on Farooq. Entering that game, Muhammad had played just 144 college snaps.

After his first SEC game two weeks ago, Muhammad has now registered nearly five times the number of snaps and has seen over 50 targets come his way through one and a half seasons. Burke was in the same boat, having played only 176 career snaps. That’s around four hundred fewer than he will have played entering this year’s matchup.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian preached Monday about how continuity will help his team against Oklahoma this weekend. To that end, Sarkisian has proven to be one of the best at diagnosing when his position groups have weaknesses, and works hard to bolster those weaknesses at every opportunity.

This year’s Texas secondary is both a testament and a potentially contradictory point to the points Sarkisian preached on Monday. This secondary looks a lot different than it did last year against Oklahoma, with exactly half of the snaps taken by players in the secondary at last year’s game having left in the transfer portal this offseason. But the byproduct of this swapping has paid dividends for the Longhorns.

Texas has jumped from a bottom 20 team against the pass in 2023 to the number two team in the nation in opponent passing yards allowed per game, evidence not only to the improvement of individuals but the group’s consistency throughout the year. In addition, Texas ended last year ranked No. 47 in team passing efficiency defense. Through five games this year, the Longhorns are No. 3 in that metric.

In 2023, Texas saw its starting cornerback Ryan Watts miss significant stretches of time, forcing younger players like Muhammad to step up throughout the season. Now in 2024, despite a few minor injuries in the safety group, the starting five defensive backs are the only players (outside of linebacker Anthony Hill) on the team to have played 195 or more snaps. The core five features risers like Jaylon Guilbeau and transfer Andrew Mukuba, as well as the elevated play of a number of returners.

“These guys provide a lot of juice in practice,” Sarkisian said about his defensive back corps.
“That group has got a lot of personality about them that I think kind of permeates throughout our team. And so sometimes you never know where it’s going to start and who are those guys, but our secondary is kind of the Energizer Bunny to me.”

That energy has more than shown its face on the field, with 11 pass breakups and five interceptions between the entire defensive back group.

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Texas entered last season’s Red River Shootout with an unproven secondary, something Gabriel, Stoops and Anderson abused in the matchup’s final moments to steal the win from the Longhorns. This year’s group, however, has completely turned a corner, and Texas’ secondary is arguably the best corps on the entire defense in stark contrast to last year.