What Pro Football Focus thinks of the Texas Longhorns defense after five games

Pro Football Focus grades are what you make of them, but they do often paint a picture of how a player or team is performing over the course of multiple games. After the Texas Longhorns zoomed to a 5-0 record with wins over Colorado State, at Michigan, UTSA, ULM, and Mississippi State, the Longhorn defense has turned in strong performances PFF thought highly of.

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There’s greatness at each position, and some players are performing at an elite level. There’s also room for improvement as the grades show.

Here’s the offensive edition.

Elite first string defensive back play

Jahdae Barron has been one of the best players on the defense according to PFF. Among players with at least 100 snaps, Barron only trails Colin Simmons in defensive grade with a stellar 88.2. Barron’s run defense grade is a strong 84.5, his tackling mark is 88.7, his pass defense grade is 74.2, and his coverage grade is 86.7. All great.

Opposing quarterbacks might be completing 63% of their passes against Barron, but they aren’t going anywhere. On 16 targets he’s allowed 10 receptions for 52 yards. The longest play against him has been nine yards, plus he’s added an interception and a PBU.

Others in the DB corps are having strong seasons, as well. Of the Longhorn defensive backs who have started, here are their PFF defensive grades.

• Jahdae Barron – 89.2
• Michael Taaffe – 83.6
• Malik Muhammad – 77.3
• Derek Williams Jr. – 74.5
• Andrew Mukuba – 73.6
• Jaylon Guilbeau – 72.2

Some of the depth behind that group has some work to do, and it should be noted that Jelani McDonald has a grade of 70.3 in limited opportunities.

But the first-string defensive backfield for Texas has played as good through five games as any unit on the team. That’s reflected in their coverage grades

• Jahdae Barron – 86.7
• Michael Taaffe – 86.3
• Andrew Mukuba – 78.6
• Derek William Jr. – 77.3
• Malik Muhammad – 76.1
• Jaylon Guilbeau – 69.0

Most of the stats reflect a strong season from the Longhorn secondary, though there is an outlier. Guilbeau has been targeted 14 times and opponents have caught 10 passes for 107 yards and a score, good for a NFL passer rating of 117.3.

That score was Davis Warren‘s 31-yard pass to Semaj Morgan in the Michigan game, a play where Guilbeau aligned on the left hash and Morgan scored at the front right pylon after Warren was flushed out of the pocket and allowed five seconds to look downfield.

It’s tough for anyone to defend that long. Luckily for Texas it has matched coverage and pressure at a strong clip this season except for one individual instance that goes against Guilbeau’s record.

Defensive tackles are keeping up the standard

Here are the defensive grades for defensive tackles who have played at least 40 snaps.

• Vernon Broughton – 87.7
• Alfred Collins – 77.4
• Jermayne Lole – 72.7
• Bill Norton – 59.3
• Alex January – 58.6

The top-end stuff is fantastic, but Broughton and Collins appear to be on their way to more snaps than Texas has had to put its defensive tackles through in several years.

A number of other defensive tackles have seen limited action, including Tia Savea, Aaron Bryant, Jaray Bledsoe, and Sydir Mitchell. None of them have played more than Savea’s 37 snaps.

January is being brought along slowly, with double-digit snaps against Colorado State and UTSA but only a few reps against Michigan, Louisiana-Monroe, and Mississippi State. Steve Sarkisian‘s lament of “not enough big humans” from April can be seen in the limited rotation, and that’s even after Texas made waves in the portal to nab Norton and Lole.

Thus far, however, the top-line crew has been phenomenal. Broughton and Collins have maintained incredible play and both have stepped up their run defense, as Broughton has a mark of 78.4 and Collins one of 80.6 in that department.

Finding others to make it so Texas doesn’t lack defensively when they are not on the field was likely one of Pete Kwiatkowski‘s key tasks during the bye.

Colin Simmons is the superstar of his group

As James Hayden explained yesterday, Colin Simmons is the highest-graded true freshman defensive player in the country. He has a defensive PFF grade of 89.2 and once he increases his consistency he’ll be every bit of the five-star he was ranked as.

He’s not doing it alone in his room. Barryn Sorrell has a good defensive grade of 68.6. His counterpart Trey Moore is just behind at 67.6.

In his opportunities as the second-string Jack, Ethan Burke has racked up a grade of 75.4. Justice Finkley has performed well in his chances with a 63.6. Even Colton Vasek in 41 snaps has a grade of 66.0.

For some reason, tackling among this position is up and down. Moore, Finkley, and Simmons are all above 68 with the first two in the 70s. Sorrell, Burke, and Vasek are all below 35 with the first two in the 30s.

As far as pressure goes, Simmons unsurprisingly leads with 13 made up of four sacks and nine hurries. Sorrell is just behind him with 11 made up of two sacks, two quarterback hits, and seven hurries. No other EDGE has more than five.

A clear linebacking trio

Anthony Hill Jr. has a stellar defensive grade of 77.4 with solid marks in pass rush, run defense, tackling, and coverage. As the lead communicator on defense, Hill Jr. has made things happen with his own play at a strong clip during his second season.

Sixth-year senior David Gbenda isn’t all that far behind with a 67.1 defensive grade.

One of the nice surprises is Liona Lefau, who has matched Gbenda’s 67.1 defensive grade.

After that there is a drop off in play.

Morice Blackwell is currently grading at 54.8 with all his marks in the 50s and tackling at a paltry 40.2. Other linebackers have not played more than 20 snaps and haven’t done much to prove they deserve more, with one exception.

In 36 snaps on defense, Ty’Anthony Smith has a grade of 65.4 on defense, which would be fourth behind Hill Jr., Gbenda, and Lefau but ahead of Blackwell among players that have seen at least 30 snaps. The future is bright there, but Smith may see his future arrive early if he continues to make the most of his chances.

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Who is Texas’ highest graded defensive player?

It’s Wardell Mack! Granted, that has come on only 18 snaps across three games but his interception against Colorado State to maintain the shutout was looked at kindly by the graders at PFF. In limited opportunity against UTSA he posted a 64.2 grade and against Louisiana-Monroe he added a 62.3 graded performance.

The team marks

Texas’ team defensive grade of 92.7 is second in the country behind Ole Miss’ 93.4.

The run defense grade of 84.6 is No. 29 in the nation.

Tackling ranks No. 49 with a grade of 69.8. Washington leads the Power 4 with an 81.2 grade.

The Longhorn pass rush is No. 8 with a mark of 82.7. No. 7 is Oklahoma with a grade of 83.1.

Texas leads the nation in coverage grade with a 93.3.