Texas looking for special teams depth among its younger players, a move it hopes positively affects the defense

The Texas Longhorns’ defense surrendered 24 points to Oklahoma State in the first half of Saturday’s contest in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowboys accumulated 318 total yards, including 108 on the ground.

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Coming out of halftime, the Longhorn defense responded well to Pete Kwiatkowski’s locker room message. OSU had four straight drives with a punt, including two three-and-outs, and managed only 38 yards in 15 plays.

The Longhorn offense, though, didn’t hold up its end of the deal. Texas also punted on four straight drives.

In the entire game, Steve Sarkisian’s team had two drives last longer than two minutes. The defense, depleted by an injury to Anthony Cook and intermittent appearances from Ryan Watts, began to run out of gas in the fourth quarter due to the volume of snaps spent on the field.

And on the Cowboys’ 94th offensive play, the dam finally broke. Bryson Green evaded Jerrin Thompson for the 41-yard go-ahead score that would put the game at its final 41-34 tally.

Make no mistake, the defense missed chances to help itself out in multiple situations. OSU was 8-for-19 on third down, including 4-for-11 in the second half.

But the sheer volume of snaps was too much for a patchwork secondary to handle with Green’s final score serving as the coup de grace.

On the whole, Longhorn defensive backs played well considering the number of snaps played. Thompson played a whopping 101 snaps, outdone only by Jahdae Barron‘s 104 according to Pro Football Focus. True freshman Jaylon Guilbeau played in 62 snaps, a starter-level quantity in many games. Kitan Crawford and Michael Taaffe, the backup safety tandem, played in 45 and 40 snaps, respectively.

As Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian mentioned Monday, most members of that group play on several Longhorn special teams units, specifically the ones that require a lot of full-speed sprinting like kickoff, kick return, punt, and punt return.

Add those special teams snaps to the aforementioned conventional down defensive snaps, and it makes for an exhausted secondary even with rotation.

Sarkisian and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks belong to the school of thought that says to utilize starters or rotation players on special teams units. That has helped Texas achieve a No. 7 ranking in special teams FEI, according to Football Outsiders. ESPN’s SP+ doesn’t think as highly of Banks’ special teams, placing the Longhorns at the No. 35 spot in its rankings. Still, that’s a spot or two outside of the top quarter in the FBS.

But when those starters who make those numbers happen are on the field for most of the game, it has a detrimental effect on both the special teams and defense.

Going forward, how does Texas stay fresh in the secondary and maintain its quality on special teams?

“We’ve got to find some secondary players who can contribute, maybe not as a frontline starter on defense, but can be a backup player on defense and contribute 10-12 snaps on special teams,” Sarkisian said Monday.

Does that mean Sarkisian and Banks do their best Jackie Sherrill impersonation and put 11 walk-ons on the specials teams units? Very doubtful, but that illustrates how difficult it is to find a balance between playing the team’s best players in multiple phases and making sure those same players are have enough left in the tank when necessary.

If not walk-ons, then Sarkisian and Banks may look toward a youth movement.

“This week will be dedicated to getting healthy, (and) developing a little more depth on our team going into these final four games so that we can rely on some of these younger players,” Sarkisian said. “Maybe not so much just on offense and defense, but on special teams where a lot of our key players are playing a lot of snaps.”

Texas has looked to freshmen Jaydon Blue, Ethan Burke, Cam Williams, and Savion Red this year primarily for special teams purposes. Some deference is given to development and maintaining redshirts, which is part of the reason why some players like X’avion Brice, Trevell Johnson, and Larry Turner-Gooden have not seen much, if any, action this year. But in light of Sarkisian’s words, those players could see more action in the final four games.

Sarkisian’s search isn’t limited to true freshmen. Second-year players like JD Coffey could alleviate the pressure on the Longhorn secondary.

Of course, looking in the second and third string ranks will take place too, whether that be at running back, linebacker, or defensive back. One from that group made an impact versus Oklahoma State, with Morice Blackwell blocking a punt in the first half. Keilan Robinson, who sees regular action on offense, fits this bill as well.

However, Sarkisian laid his cards on the table during his Monday press conference. He’s looking for underclassmen, scholarship or otherwise, to step up to alleviate the pressure on his starters, especially in back-and-forth contests like the recent one in Stillwater.

If he can find the players he’s looking for, it’ll help both the Longhorn defense and special teams in the final four games of the regular season.