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Texas football's need for more defensive playmakers

On3 imageby:Bobby Burton•10/18/22•

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Anthony Cook (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

I’ve written a few times this season about a lack of playmakers on Texas football’s defensive side of the ball.

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Yes, the defense is playing better and more together than a year ago. But game-changing play production has still been few and far between, absent almost.

But that wasn’t the case with the game on the line Saturday.

Anthony Cook, a senior, made something happen.

He flew in and made a legal hit so vicious and physical that it caused a fumble, which eventually resulted in the Horns emerging victorious.

That kind of off-schedule play is what it takes to make a difference in a football game. That kind of play is what we’ve seen too little of from the Texas defense the past few years.

Cook’s tackle not only threw caution to the wind but the physical nature of it surprised me. He took the fight to the offense with the game on the line. Too often in recent years, the Texas defense has sat back and let the game happen to them.

We can talk about culture and ask what that really means. Well, Cook’s hit is a defining culture moment if other Horns follow suit.

Players stepping up with the game on the line – that is the culture of winning.

My hat’s off to Anthony Cook. He led by example late in the game on Saturday. Texas needs more and more of it, to the point where it becomes contagious.

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Given that Spencer Sanders appears injured, I wanted to do some research on the Oklahoma State backup.

So yes, I’m one of those guys who went and watched high school film of Gunnar Gundy, Oklahoma State’s backup quarterback who is the son of head coach Mike Gundy.

He’s a southpaw with good accuracy and reasonable running skills.

But, of course, high school film doesn’t tell you all that much when the players around you start getting bigger and faster.

In his only action this season, Gundy completed 12 of 20 passes for 128 yards with two TDs and one interception against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

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Quinn Ewers needs a bounce back game of sorts.

Sark and Ewers need a great game plan and great execution against the Cowboys.

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