Texas is better across the board on defense, but by how much?

Questions on the offense are pretty straightforward. With Steve Sarkisian’s schemes and play calling holding up in his first year, along with quite literally a massive talent infusion, the main issue facing the offense is inexperience. How quickly Sark and Kyle Flood get their young players up to speed will ultimately decide the ceiling for the season. The floor? That will be decided by the defense.

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Entering Year 2, defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski has many more questions than Sark, and fewer answers. While the defensive staff recruited well in their inaugural cycle, those true freshmen aren’t as ready-made as their offensive counterparts. That written, there is hope for defensive improvement for two main reasons: many of the younger players who flashed promise last year will take on a more prominent role, and this should be a much more cohesive and experienced unit over last season.

Many qualities go into an overachieving defense: good coordination, football IQ, effort level on and off the field, and experience playing together which leads to cohesion. Read that again, compare it to last year’s defense, and you get an idea of what also goes into an underachieving defense. In those four areas, Texas should be improved.

It’s conceivable, maybe even expected, the sum will be greater than the parts this season. If so, it wouldn’t be close to the first time PK pulled that coaching feat off in his career.

Interior Defensive Line

Commentary: As you see, there are no real key losses or additions at iDL, but there is still hope for improvement at nose and defensive tackle. Scheme will be important here: will PK allow his defensive tackles to attack half a man and get up field, or will he tie an anvil to their waist and ask them two-gap? We’re still unclear on that, but we do know Byron Murphy was the best defensive lineman on the team in August and that probably wouldn’t be the case if they were just asking him to take up space. Murphy is talented but has the maturity and work ethic of an overachiever. Ditto Moro Ojomo. Keondre Coburn should be the two-gapping option when PK wants to clog running lanes. Vernon Broughton works hard and has improved, but he isn’t close to being a finished product. His ball get-off is said to have improved and he’s playing the run better. We’ll take that to mean he’s playing with better pad level, but we’d like to see that consistently for ourselves. He’s a talented player, but he may be a year away from putting it together. Alfred Collins (injured for the first game) and T’Vondre Sweat are the two most talented defensive linemen in the program, yet they aren’t guaranteed to start this season. If they consistently bring it, in conjunction with being able to attack up field, improvement at iDL will be major. But that remains one of the season’s biggest questions. 

Improvement year-over-year: Medium. If they get a pass rush we could see major improvement.

Edge

Key additions: Justice Finkley, Ethan Burke

Commentary: Sources state Ovie Oghoufo is playing the run with better technique. If so, that’s a good sign of PK’s ability to develop his edges, something he’s well known for. On the other side, Barryn Sorrell is a year older and that’s meaningful because he’s one of the hardest workers on the team. You know he maximized his offseason. He’s probably still more suited to a wider alignment, but he should be more powerful at the point of attack than last year. I’m still not sure he’s ready to play an interior 4i role. He’s going to be a good player, but he’s another who might be a year away from hitting his stride. There isn’t a lot of depth at Edge, unless they move over a defensive tackle. Two freshman, Justice Finkley and Ethan Burke, should figure prominently into early season plans. Pass rush from the outside remains a major question mark. Will Prince Dorbah, Derrick Harris, or J’Mond Tapp step up in that regard? Oghoufo has the traits to beat the tackle and turn the corner, but he doesn’t always exhibit the discipline. Burke has good traits and length, but he’s a true freshman. 

Improvement y-o-y: Mild. If they play the run better this season it’s a big win. I don’t have high expectations from this group as one on one pass rushers, but their motors are good and the interior should flush the passer in their direction. 

Linebacker

Key addition: Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey

Commentary: This should be the most improved position group on defense, and maybe the whole team. There’s NFL buzz within the program surrounding Jaylan Ford. We all know DeMarvion Overshown is a superior athlete, though not the most natural in-the-box linebacker. That makes the addition of Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey potentially massive. “Tuck” should allow the staff to unleash Overshown creatively when they’re in base. Whether playing off-ball or on the line of scrimmage, Overshown needs to find his way into the back field. David Gbenda is said to be progressing as well. We know he’s a very good athlete. Jett Bush adds depth, and could add value as a pass rusher similar to Overshown. I do wonder if he’s carrying a bit too much weight after playing Jack last season. That could show up in his pass drops. Overall, I think this unit will be solid in pass coverage.

Improvement y-o-y: Major. Hopefully I’m right. This group needs to clean up behind the defensive front and make life easier on the secondary. 

Safety

Key addition: BJ Allen

Key loss: Brenden Schooler

Commentary: Schooler just made the New England Patriots 53-man roster as a special teamer after improving over the second half of last season. I’m not saying he’s a huge loss but it’s likely he would have been a quality player with any semblance of continuity in his development. This position group has nowhere to go but up. We talk about virtuous cycles on offense, but the potential exists for that on defense, too. If the defensive front is more assignment sound against the run it will make things easier in run support for the linebackers. If the linebackers are more sound, it will make things easier for the safeties. Anthony Cook’s move to boundary safety should improve coverage and want-to over last year. Jerrin Thompson is the best communicator on defense. At a minimum he needs to pick up where Schooler left off. JD Coffey, Kitan Crawford, and Allen provide much better depth than last season. Still, this is not a position group teeming with obvious NFL prospects, though Crawford is a definite NFL-level athlete and Allen has real promise, he’s just young and playing a mentally demanding position. Hopefully they both get a lot of reps before conference play begins.

Improvement y-o-y: Medium. They should be solid in pass coverage but the hope is they’re much improved in run support.

Corner

Key additions: Ryan Watts, Jaylon Guilbeau, Terrance Brooks, Austin Jordan

Key loss: Josh Thompson (because he could have moved to safety)

Commentary: D’Shawn Jamison turned over the quarterbacks too many times to count in August. That’s not unusual for him. Most encouraging, we barely heard about him giving up big plays. Watts brings a physical presence to corner but there is some intrigue over whether or not he’ll be able to stick with the more athletic receivers in the program. Jamier Johnson is one of the most improved players in the program and is the third corner. Jahdae Barron has moved to Star (nickel) where he’ll improve coverage at the position. Guilbeau, also at Star, had a very strong camp and he’ll play a lot early on. Brooks and Jordan aren’t exactly ready, but they should see the field early to gain some experience. Ishmael Ibraheem is also progressing and should see the field. Michael Taaffe has played both Star and safety.

Improvement y-o-y: Mild. If Jamison plays within himself and consistently does the small things, we could see medium improvement for the unit and large improvement for him. Part of the concern at corner, though, is the lack of pass rush.

If you missed the writeup on offense, here you go: Texas is better across the board on offense, but by how much?