Heisman candidate Bijan robinson leads a potent offense as the longhorns look to contend for a bigxii title in 2022. READY TO RUN
THIS WEEK: Publisher -- Eric Nahlin | InsideTexas.com Editor -- Justin Wells | Lead Writer -- Joe Cook | Contributors -- Ian Boyd, Paul Wadlington, Gerry Hamilton, Bobby Burton | Designer/Photographer -- Will Gallagher To Subscribe/Customer Service -- Phone: 512-659-8167 | Email: help@insidetexas.com Quinn Ewers edged out Hudson Card to win the QB1 job. Ewers Wins Starting Job | by Joe Cook 10 12Whittington Looks to Come Back Strong | Jordan Whittington has put in the work for a successful and injury-free season. by Joe Cook 4New Additions For 2022|Offensive Outlook| by eriC NahliN Steve Sarkisian remade the roster in 2022. Will those changes work? 16Keys to Improved Defense | Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense needs to be more consistent and aggressive in 2022. by eriC NahliN 20Texas’ Two High Defense| Ian breaks down how the secondary will be structured this season. by iaN boyd 28Most Impactful Recuits of Past 25 Years| Where does the Arch Manning commitment rank? by Gerry hamiltoN 322022 Season - Game by Game| Ian’s scouting reports on each opponent on the 2022 schedule. by iaN boyd 24Arch Madness!| We chronicle the recruitment of the #1 player in the 2023 class, Arch Manning. by iNside texas staff
Inside Texas 2022 Season Preview
WILL
2022 ADDITIONS
ADDITIONS PAY DIVIDENDS?
Four major questions in particular are clear as we head into Sark’s second stanza. If somehow they all get answered in September, maybe the team will catch lightning in a bottle and jump its timeline similar to 2008.
I’m not a fan of reducing expectations due to disappointment the year prior. I said this under both Charlie Strong and Tom Herman, but it’s clear there are still numerous questions surrounding the program that were highlighted by the six-game losing streak last season. Or, in a couple cases, there are answers but they’re still in the rough draft stage.
BY ERIC NAHLIN
Steve Sarkisian was as proactive as he could possibly be in the transfer market and it paid off with a player who should have been at Texas the whole time in the ultra-talented Quinn Ewers. I’ve likened Ewers to a young Brett Favre, but not because of their deals with Wranglers. Well yeah, maybe a little of that too. I do believe Quinn is going to become a great quarterback, but as of now he’s more of a talented passer. There is a difference which we’ll discuss over the next week. As he experiments with what he can and can’t get away with at the college level, Quinn will be a little more boom or bust this season than at any other point in his career. I do think he’s going to be successful this season, but pairing his inexperi ence with a young O-line lowers the ceiling for the season.
Defensive Coordinator The coordinator on the opposite side of the head coach’s expertise is always someone to keep an eye on. Though, it is interesting both Strong and Herman ultimately failed because of shortcomings on their side of the ball.
Byron Murphy will play a much larger role, as will Jahdae Barron at Star rather than corner. Both flashed genuine ability last season.
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Offensive Line In my view, the two most important position groups on a team are quarterback and O-line. The good: They’re both extremely talented. The bad: They’re both extremely green. Coaches are not in a position to sacrifice wins for development this season, but fortunately Kyle Flood is in a position to assimilate his freshman signees on a timeline that doesn’t do that.
Sark appears to be on solid footing on offense, even going into this season with the above questions. After a disappointing first season, and less immediate reinforcements on defense than offense, there are a handful of concerns around Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense.
Former Star, Anthony Cook, is in a position more suited to his skill set. The addition of Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, which barely registered on the fan Richter scale, could produce tremors.
Even more notably at linebacker, Jaylan Ford has emerged as the sure-fire starter after looking the part later in 2021. Ryan Watts from Ohio State was the biggest addition on defense. We have heard mixed reviews about where he best projects, though he’s a starting corner to begin the season. I do think defense will show demonstrable improvement, but we’ll need to see answers on the field, not in theory. Overall, the coaches need a full year to develop the 2022 signees, and to continue toKELVIN
PK has built his reputation on. While there is some truth to this being very similar personnel to last year, that can be a bit misleading when trying to project whether or not the unit will improve.
I view Kelvin Banks in a similar vein to Ewers. He’s good enough to be a good enough this season, though he’s still a freshman and will make mistakes. Cole Hutson is going to start at right guard and he should be solid this season. Others, like Cam Williams and DJ Campbell, will also play. Experience for this group will go a long way towards next spring and then into 2023 when they’ll look much differ ent.
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There are indeed talent deficiencies on this side of the ball, but those can be somewhat mitigated with good schemes, development and teaching, and getting players in the right place. These are all things
Barryn Sorrell also played well at times last season and he’ll take on a larger role at a need position (he may be a year away from being good, though he should be solid).
QUARTERBACK
It was good to see the former Alabama transfer holding court for the press recently. That got me thinking, though he had a bit of a quiet camp, surely they have something up their sleeve that hasn’t been repped a ton in August. Robinson is simply too fast and too hard to tackle to not receive touches, even with one of the best running back duos in the country ahead of him.
WHAT’S IN STORE FOR KEILAN ROBINSON?
Ewers is probably going to have more of those pockets than he’d like. In time, he’ll be better for it, but how soon?
In Xavier Worthy, Texas has a clear No. 1. Some on the IT staff believe he’s the most important offensive player in the program. With the loss of Isaiah Neyor, Sark lost some size and ball-winning skills on the perimeter.
A talented passer drops back and hits the tight end down the seam. A quarterback looks the safety off first. A talented passer hits his first read in stride down the field. A talented quarterback can do the same to his third receiver when need be. A talented passer carves up a defense from the comfort of the pocket. A talented quarterback operates amidst the chaos of a broken pocket, slides his feet, keeps his eyes up, finds a window, resets his feet, pauses to reflect just how far he’s come as a player, and deliv ers a strike.
Though he hasn’t demonstrated the greatest hands, he’s an easy guy to get the ball to in myriad ways. Due to toughness and surprising strength, he’s not a bad traditional ball carrier, either. Yes, a touch for him is one less for Bijan Robinson, but they are complementary talents. Can Casey Cain approximate a classic No. 2 receiver?
KEILAN ROBINSON
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72022 SEASON PREVIEW upgrade talent and depth through the 2023 class and the portal. They are already doing that in recruiting, and they will do that through the portal, too. Culture Culture, or lack thereof, often falls on the players because we can see it on the field with their actions and effort, but I’m including Sark here because it certainly falls under the program management Iumbrella.dothink lack of culture received a bit of a bad rap last season and was more of a lagging indicator of the losing streak than the cause of the losing streak. Each team has a threshold for what it can withstand, and heartbreaking losses to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Baylor proved too much. Hopefully we don’t witness that level of adver sity again, but if we do I believe they’re better equipped to handle it. We’ve highlighted the ways Sark has addressed culture through exPorting a few malcontents, increasing account ability within the program, more demanding strength and conditioning, and stoking player-driven leadership. By all accounts, even from players themselves at media availabilities, this seems improved, but it does remain a question heading into the opening game. Like with improvements on defense, it’s great to hear about it, but it’s time to see it. Let’s start with the most important position in the sport — quarterback.
HOW SOON CAN QUINN EWERS TRANSITION FROM TALENTED PASSER TO TALENTED QUARTERBACK?
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Justin Wells: After meteoric rise as one of the most chronicled quarterback recruits in recent history, Quinn Ewers is finally at Texas.
THE TIGHT ENDS HAVE SOME OF THE BEST HANDS ON THE TEAM, BUT CAN THEY BLOCK?
It was curious watching people say Kyle Flood’s Alabama unit won the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s top offensive line, due to Oftalent.course they had talent, but if you watched that group for more than five snaps you would see how terrifically coordinated they were.
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WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER ON OFFENSE?
EVERYONE IS EXCITED ABOUT IMPROVED INDIVIDUAL TALENT ON THE O-LINE, BUT WHAT ABOUT UNIT COHESION?
While Jordan Whittington will almost assuredly be the de-facto No. 2 receiver, redshirt freshman Casey Cain has classic No. 2 receiver traits, namely good hands, reliability to be in the right spot, and the ability to win with his length and body in traffic underneath. He also stands to benefit from defensive focus placed elsewhere.
Their ability as receivers will be devastating at times this season but receiving is only half of the game. For the offense to unleash Bijan in the run game and provide the young passer time in the pocket, this group is going to need to provide adequate run and pass blocking. If they do, the offense should be as good as fans hope.
Ja’Tavion Sanders and Juan Davis have hands most receivers would envy. Jahleel Billingsley is part receiver and part tight end. Guannar Helm is a solid two-way tight end, but may require a little more physi cal and technical development before he becomes a quality blocker.
Quarterback remains the most important position in sports. Steve Sarkisian named Ewers the starting signal-caller for Texas in 2022 last week. For a former quarterback-turned-head coach like Sark, Ewers adds an element to an offense will untapped potential. For the Sarkisian era in Austin to really take shape, Ewers is going to have to be good early in his career. You could make a case for Bijan Robinson, Kelvin Banks, or Jordan Whittington. Xavier Worthy and Ja’Tavion Sanders might need men tioning too.
Working in unison isn’t unique to the ultra-talented, but as Flood infuses some talented, albeit young players, can he also create or retain cohesion across the line? Even if it may not have felt like it, his unit came a long way last year, but they need to pick up where they left off, not start over in the opener.
Sark can’t replace Neyor with a like for like, but Cain can replace some of the No. 2 aspects Neyor possessed as the boundary re ceiver. He’s not the athlete Neyor is and his ability to beat press coverage needs to be proven, though he does have the traits to win at the line of scrimmage. There’s no sugar-coating it, Neyor was a big loss, but Cain should be able to mitigate aspects of it.
BIJAN ROBINSON
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Paul Wadlington: You can answer this question in two ways: by positive projection and by elimination.
The positive projection scenario favors Quinn Ewers if you assume constants everywhere else. Particularly if you feel optimistic about his ability to make all of the throws and you’re confident that he can protect himself by getting the ball out quickly.
But if Ewers plays really well, this program really takes off. For that reason, Quinn Ewers is my pick for most important offensive player this season.
Joe Cook: I will say Bijan Robinson as representative for the entire running back room. There is not talent in Tashard Choice’s position group like Robinson, but Roschon Johnson, Keilan Robinson, Jona thon Brooks, and Jaydon Blue form a strong group. Despite attention on Texas’ skill players as well as Quinn Ewers, Sarkisian likes for the running game to drive his offense. No one in that room can drive it like Bijan, which is why he’s my choice, but the entire running game is of major importance this year in order to set up Ewers and com pany to take advantage of explosive play opportunities.
Ian Boyd: Bijan Robinson will be a major boost to Quinn Ewers this coming season, who himself will need to grow up quickly during the season to get Texas where they want to go. But the loss of Isaiah Neyor highlights the need for Texas’ true remaining deep threat to have a big season. Xavier Worthy changes the ceiling of this team. He gives Ewers a reliable target to chunk the ball to, can be a focal point in Steve Sarkisian’s shot-taking system, and can help clear defenders out of the box to help Bijan and the other backs.
Eric Nahlin: Again, most important doesn’t mean the best, so I’ll go with Quinn Ewers as an extension of Sark’s ability to manipulate and take advantage of defenses.
92022 SEASON PREVIEW
The absolute quickest way to improve a program is through QB play and between Sark’s playbook, play calling, and Ewers’ unique gifts, the quarterback is the most important cog in the machine. If UT had a strong OL and less talented QB, then I’d go with Bijan Robinson.
But the most important offensive player can also be determined by elimination. Remove Bijan? You still have a pretty good running back room. Remove Quinn Ewers? You still have Hudson Card to run the offense. Remove Xavier Worthy? Yikes.
Bobby Burton: If quarterback is the most important position in sports, then I think it’s safe to assume that it’s also the most impor tant position on the Texas offense. Quinn Ewers is my pick, though the health of Jordan Whittington given what happened to the offense when he went down a year ago would be second.
Gerry Hamilton: My answer was Kelvin Banks prior to the injury to Isaiah Neyor. Now it’s Xavier Worthy. Texas suddenly has less room for error and injury at wide receiver. Needless to say, the Longhorns must have a healthy Worthy this season to provide Sarkisian and the offensive staff the playmaking needed to ascend on the field. Worthy makes everyone else better at the position and is the wide receiver that worries defensive coordinators on a weekly basis. Banks would still be my No. 2, as he takes over left tackle as a true freshman. And I totally get the importance of Quinn Ewers, and the quarterback position.
10 inside texas insidetexas com QUINN
“I was hopeful before our second scrimmage that we would have a guy that I would feel com fortable enough before I put my head down at night that that’s what I wanted to do,” Sarkisian said. “When I woke up in the morning, I still felt the same way. That’s how Thursday, Thursday night, Friday morning went for me. I felt like it was pretty consensus across the board from our staff, especially on the offensive staff, that this was the direction we were going to go in, and
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian knew he wanted this year’s quarterback competi tion to be different than the 2021 battle between Hudson Card and Casey Thompson.
In the weeks leading up to the announcement, Sarkisian held specific details about the timeline for his choice close to the vest. The only major revelation was that it would, in an ideal world, be announced earlier than last year. That held true when prior to the Longhorns’ second scrimmage, he announced through a program spokesperson Ewers would be under center come week one.
Throughout the offseason, Sarkisian said he’d like to render an earlier decision than when he named Card as starter one week before the first game. He followed through on his desire this year, naming Quinn Ewers as his starting quarterback for the 2022 Longhorns 15 days before the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks open the season in Austin.
“Quinn can make all the throws,” Sarkisian said. “I feel very comfortable about that. I feel very comfortable about his playmaking ability. I feel like his growth in the system has been one where we can really see where it’s going to head under him, and I’m excited about it.”
“Clearly, he was new to our offense, new to our team. I’ve said this all along about Quinn, I thought he came in with an open mind. I thought he has been a very good teammate, and I thought he has been really coachable. My expec tation is he’ll continue that and only get better in those areas.”
Another difference between last year’s quarterback competition and this season’s version is how Sarkisian is handling the secondstring guy. When he announced Card as starter in 2021, Sarkisian noted Thompson would still receive snaps with the first-team of fense during the first and second game. When asked if he viewed that as the course of action yet again, Sarkisian had a succinct answer: “I don’t.” Will it be a smooth ride for all 12 games with Ewers? That’s un likely, and even Sarkisian is aware of that. He mentioned multiple times there was a high probability of “growing pains” not just at quarterback, but for the entire team. But the allure of Ewers’ pass ing ability within his offense led Sarkisian to choose the mulletted man, and he believes he’ll see improvement from the highly-touted signal-caller as the year progresses, both in on-field areas and in the “Theintangibles.quarterback is the most important position in sports, not be cause of arm talent, curl routes, or how fast you can run,” Sarkisian said. “But I think part of it is, do you give the rest of your team, coaching staff, people a sense of belief? I think Quinn naturally has that ability, and I think that’s only going to continue to grow the more comfortable that he gets.”
112022 SEASON PREVIEW by Joe Cook EWERS WILL BE QB1 then go for it.”
At that Saturday scrimmage, Sarkisian said Ewers threw several touchdown passes and had a high completion percentage. There were a couple of interceptions, but he assigned responsibility to the offense as a whole as opposed to putting it all on No. 3. Mistakes are very possible with Ewers, who is in his first year with the Longhorns but his second in college football. Originally a Five-Star Plus+ prospect in the class of 2022, Ewers reclassified to 2021 and enrolled at Ohio State about one year ago. Illness and a stacked quarterback room topped by Heisman finalist CJ Stroud made snaps tough to come by for Ewers, but Sarkisian believes Ewers’ college experience in Columbus helped prepare him for both the quarterback battle and the upcoming season.
“It’s a guy who really should be a true fresh man in college, yet got some great experience of going to Ohio State and being there for four months or whatever that was last fall, and got to be part of some great environments, got to be part of a really good staff and gameplanning, and why they did what they did,” Sarkisian said. “A team that had a heck of a year, was a Rose Bowl champion, and all the things that they did. I think he was exposed to a lot. I don’t feel like he’s a true freshman because of the exposure he got last year.”
WHITTINGTON AIMING
In his three years as a Texas Longhorn, Jordan Whittington has suffered three injuries that either derailed his season or cut it short altogether.
AIMING FOR HEALTHY 2022
BY JOE COOK
The first two campaigns, 2019 and 2020, saw soft tissue problems limit J-Whitt to only six games of total action. In 2021, a broken collarbone sustained versus Oklahoma cost him four of 12 games.
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- JORDAN WHITTINGTON -
Exiting 2021 and entering 2022, Whittington made a concerted ef fort to take better care of his body. He practices yoga and does other workouts with the purpose of physical maintenance. He improved his diet. He is constantly in Moncrief receiving treat ment that will help him remain a threat to opposing defenses. Through UT’s training camp, his hard work has drawn praise from coaches and teammates alike. When asked about his peers taking notice of everything he does in the facil ity and on the practice field, Whittington said his efforts were something that came as a result of past experiences “I would say that’s just something that comes with maturity and self-discipline,” Whittington said Tuesday. “I always make a conscious effort to take it seri ously. When I was younger, I didn’t, and I saw the consequences of that. Being older, going through it three times in a row, it changes your mindset. I’m happy they have faith in me, but it was some thing I had to do. I had to switch up what I was doing. I had to change something.”
Whittington has been around strength and conditioning training for a long time. Growing up in a family of athletes had Whittington around weights from a young age. He said he was doing lifts like the bench press when he was Those10-years-old.yearsof training near the Texas Coastal Bend and the rigors of carrying the load for the Cuero Gobblers took a Whittingtontoll. had a few injuries in high school, even during his state champion ship season in 2018. Those injuries, all of the soft tissue variety, continued at Texas in 2019 and 2020. When Steve Sarkisian arrived in Austin in 2021, he brought with him Torre Becton to implement a new strength and conditioning philosophy for the former top-50 player in the On3 Consensus. They had a plan for Whittington from the start. “I would say the difference would be more mobility, not as much strength and stuff like that,” Whittington said of their blueprint for him. “Me, I had a lot of operations, so just staying open, staying loose, staying mobile is something that we worked on.” That change helped him avoid soft tis sue problems through the first six games of 2021, but football is a violent sport and collisions happen. Treatment and conditioning doesn’t do a whole lot when it comes to collarbones, and a broken clavicle is what cost Whittington four games last season. He returned for the last two games versus West Virginia and Kansas State, and has been on a strong trajectory since his return thanks to everything he has done to take care of his body.
Jean Delance
152022 SEASON PREVIEW
“I didn’t know how much it impacted you until I got older,” Whittington said of his diet. “Fruit is my main thing. It helps me.”
Expectations for Whittington are high, and no one has higher expectations than Whittington himself. The fourth-year junior said he was especially motivated because this is his “last year,” hinting at his professional Thoseaspirations.expectations are high for the Longhorn team, too, and Whittington be lieves not only his efforts but the efforts from those around him will make this a good season to potentially go out on.
Bijan Robinson
“I definitely have got the vibe this is going to work,” Whittington said. “Teamwise, you always want to come into the season positive. It just feels like it’s more player-led.”
Whittington said Tuesday he shows up early prior to practice in order to get treatment, almost living in the UT train ing Recentroom.facility renovations have helped in this regard, as some of the treatments Texas players used to have to go off campus to receive are now in the fully redone Moncrief athletic facility. “We’re in fall camp so we’re here, and I get more time here,” Whittington said. “Every time I get extra time, I’m doing something to better myself.” His care has allowed him to remain on the field and be Texas’ No. 1 receiver at the H, or slot, position. But there’s one part of his previously mentioned weekly routine that he’s forgotten about.
“I haven’t eaten ice cream in three weeks,” joked Whittington, who previ ously claimed to eat a pint of ice cream on Saturdays. “I haven’t been strict on it. I’ve got to get back to it.” His previous frosty favorite was Blue Bell’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. But after an offseason trip to New York City, Whittington became obsessed with Talenti’s caramel cookie crunch gelato. That isn’t something offered in the TANC, where Longhorn football players eat and commiserate. Instead, Whitting ton goes there as part of his daily prepa ration and consumes two big bowls of fruit as part of a much healthier diet.
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KEYS
TO AN IMPROVED
Xavier Worthy
IMPROVED DEFENSE IN 2022
After earning a stellar reputation as a defensive coordinator at Boise State and then Washington, Pete Kwiatkowski's inaugural year at Texas had a surprising amount of issues. Some of those issues were known personnel deficiencies going into the season while others became much more apparent as one second half letdown gave way to another. BY ERIC NAHLIN
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Similar to his defensive coordinator, DeMarvion Overshown is look ing for vast improvement in his second-year in the scheme. Always known for his raw talent, Overshown has struggled to find the right fit through three different schemes, and at times, he’s been a victim of his own combination of size and talent. Is he a safety? Is he a linebacker? This year the question is likely to be, can he get after the quar terback regardless of alignment while showing improvement at linebacker?
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Ian Boyd: The right answer is DeMarvion Overshown, who seems to be Texas’ plan A for creating a pass rush in 2022. Shoutout to nose tackle Byron Murphy though who will be asked to upgrade the overall pass rush by pushing the pocket into the quarter back’s face.
Justin Wells: For all that ails the Texas de fense, linebacker is the spot in need of the big gest jolt. When DeMarvion Overshown decided to jump in the box, his career aspirations and NFL potential increased. After injury-filled years
Lack of pressure was a big issue for the defense last year, and with no clear answers beyond development of holdover players, the defense is said to be looking to put the long and hyper-athletic Overshown in a position to disrupt the passing game through myriad alignments.
Year two for PK isn’t likely to result in a year-over-year overhaul — there is still uncertainty at all three levels of the defense — but tangible improvement would go a long way toward reminding people in charge and fans alike that his strengths have always been teaching, developing, and deploying his players.
For that reason, DeMarvion Overshown is my pick for most impor tant defensive player this season. That shouldn’t be confused with who I think will be the best defensive player (Byron Murphy). That’s an entirely different question, though sometimes the answers do overlap (Joseph Ossai in 2020).
Joe Cook: There are some schools of thought that believe solid run defense begins with reliable play at the cornerback position.
I don’t think anyone is asking D’Shawn Jamison to be Darrelle Revis and make the game 10-on-10, or be Trevon Diggs and rack up interceptions. What Steve Sarkisian, Pete Kwiatkowski, Terry Joseph, and the Longhorn defense needs from Jamison is the ability to make life difficult for opposing team’s No. 1 receiver. That’s not something Jamison did last year, though he has done it in spurts throughout his collegiate career. If he can be disruptive against guys like Marvin Mims, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Xavier Hutchinson, and Quentin Johnston, then the rest of the Longhorn defense will benefit as a result.
Bobby Burton: The only way the Texas defense maximizes its per formance this year is if they get an unsuspecting performance from a talented player who is yet to show his true value. Based on what I’ve seen and heard, I’m going with T’Vondre Sweat to do just that. If he steps up, the Texas defense is a whole lot better, especially when teamed with Byron Murphy on the interior.
Gerry Hamilton: Jaylan Ford. Texas struggled mightily at linebacker a season ago. Ford is the true off-ball linebacker in the program who is believed to have NFL Draft pick upside. For the Texas defense to make strides this season, the most talented players with NFL upside need to perform at a level that backs that up. Ford totaled 53 tackles last season, and has started three games in two seasons in Austin. If the 6-foot-2, 238-pounder puts together an 85+ tackle season with 12+ tackles for loss, the Long horns will be a vastly improved linebacker unit. The Longhorns need Ford to be the playmaker at the position.
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192022 SEASON PREVIEW on the Forty Acres, the senior is finally healthy. With some appearances on the edge this fall, his passrushing could be instrumental for UT’s defense. He’s also one of the team’s best athletes and most-liked teammates. If he’s hitting, others will follow.
BYRON MURPHY
Entersuggests?Byron Murphy. His penetrating, high motor strengths create disruption at the point of attack and will elevate the prospects of other D-linemen well-suited to playing in that structure. That ap proach should create more negative plays and turnover potential and disallow an offense from consistently clean pockets and a reliable running game. Last year, the Texas D had many faults, but chief among them is how easily it could be predicted and controlled. Want more pres sure? The best kind comes from inside. Not from wishcasting a transplanted linebacker tweener as an edge presence. Want more disruption in the run game? Play the disruptors and let them disrupt. 2nd and 12 gets opposing offenses off of the running game. Murphy’s centrality in the D also affirms that actual performance, culture, energy, and seriousness about football trump name familiarity and the persistent patina of recruiting rankings. I could make a good argument for Jahdae Barron’s trickle down as a lockdown nickel to both run support and pass defense, but let’s see him do it before assuming his impact.
Paul Wadlington: Gerry Hamilton stole my thunder with the Jaylan Ford selection, but Ford’s crucial na ture is also predicated on Texas playing defense the way Pete K wants to play it. That comes with some baggage. What if Texas plays defense a different way? The way the talent distribution on the defense
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This has major value for Texas since they take on several HUNH (hurry-up, no-huddle) spread teams this coming season, including their rivals across the Red River. The ability to position safe ties in different leverages to squeeze the space these teams are trying to exploit could be a massive factor for Texas in competing for a Big 12 Championship this coming year.
Texas’ two-high coverages The Longhorns played a few different two-high coverages in the open practice alone with an obvious preference for quarters Pattern-matchingconcepts.quarters these days typically boils down to man cover age on the outside receivers by the cornerbacks, particularly on vertical routes, with the linebackers taking inside receivers on underneath routes and the safeties covering them if they go deep.
Atwo-high, pattern-matching cover age is one of the more popular defensive systems in modern football.
The scheme is most effective if the Anthony Cook
TEXAS' TWO-HIGH DEFENSE by Ian Boyd
There are weaknesses to the scheme, but the more variety you can add to the system and the better your safeties are at recognizing offensive tendencies the more difficult you can make it for oppo nents to get the ball down the field.
One detail the open practices revealed about the 2022 Texas Longhorns was how they intend to honor SteveSarkisian’s mandate for playing tighter coverage. The Longhorns ran a lot more single-high safety man coverage in practice, either to bring some blitzes or to drop a safety down near the box, than they did for most of 2021. Yet, the base defense remains a two-high coverage which has a lot of variety and is being executed more aggressively and at a higher level than we saw a year ago.
safeties have a good feel for recognizing where the offense is trying to go and the cornerbacks can hold up down the side line without help over the top. Texas has two primary quarters coverages which both function in that fashion, they’ll prob ably play both at the same time. One is a more aggressive brand often called MEG quarters. MEG stands for Man Everywhere he Goes. The corner back is playing man coverage, perhaps press-man, on the receiver across from him and shadowing him around the field. He might have help deep and inside from the safety or he may not, depend ing on how occupied the safety is with the inside receiver. Texas will probably use this coverage in the boundary quite a bit in 2022. Then there’s MES quarters, Man Except Shallow, which is the technique every one knows and hates from 2021. The cornerback plays off on the receiver and will play him on vertical routes but stay loose and let him go if he runs a shallow route inside and close on the ball on a quick stop route. The Longhorns will likely play this ver sion quite a bit to the wide side of the field where a quarterback’s throw is in the air long enough for a corner to hang back and react. In either coverage the safeties are able to read keys and potentially arrive wherever the ball does, depending on how well they know their Theyjobs.
First option, a “poach” coverage with the boundary safety rolling toward the trips
Needback. to lock down a lethal X receiver? You’ll probably play the second option and trust the Star and field corner to hold up outside. Worried about an Jean Delance
212022 SEASON PREVIEW
also showed two brands of quarters for defending the dreaded 3×1 formations of the HUNH spread teams which put three receivers to one side of the field.
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Secondside. option, the defense plays man on the outermost two receivers with the cornerback and Star. The defense can cycle through either (or play single-high man with a safety drop ping down to cover an inside receiver) based on whether they want to ask more of the boundary cornerback or of the Star (nickel) and field cornerback. The former example leaves the boundary corner on an island without much help, the latter example helps him while defer ring stress to the coverage defenders furthest off the ball. They’re both potentially useful depend ing on the matchups with opposing receivers and the quality of the quarter
Texas’ mastery over these base concepts is clearly improved and simply getting their athletes to play good, team defense is going to yield shocking results. It’s been about four years since Texas could even do that.
Veteran reliability in these defenses is worth more than a faster 40 time, they have a lot to diagnose. TCU routinely had some 4.7/4.8 40 time guys who’d make a lot of plays running quarters because they knew how to use the system to ar rive at the right places. Weak spots in quarters coverage for Tex as to worry about include the following.
Much like the single-high man coverages which are going to take a greater role in the defense in the coming year, this approach puts a lot on the safeties to control the middle of the field. The “Star” (nickel) ends up with a lot of tough cover age assignments. He can get involved in the run game but the presence of their pure man coverages and the quarters coverages which put him in man coverage on a slot without the guarantee of safety help are all reasons for using a converted cornerback like Bar ron or Guilbeau. The quarters coverages involve the cornerbacks having to own the sideline on their own while the safeties play flatfooted reading the inside receivers. They can end up running the alleys and arriv ing pretty hard and fast in run support or robbing routes thrown over the middle. What matters most is they know what’s coming and can arrive where needed with violence and leverage. There will be obvi ous value in getting Bryan Allen and Kitan Crawford acclimated back there because of their physicality and athleticism but you can’t rush things.
22 inside texas insidetexas com offense’s speed to the wide side, you may roll coverage and trust the bound ary corner. I’m guessing Texas will lean toward option two given their move of cornerbacks Jaylon Guilbeau and Jahdae Barron to Star. If you can cycle through multiple varieties of coverage against a spread team’s favorite formations it creates hesitation in the quarterback and opposing play-caller. How will this work in 2022?
First, two-high quarters coverages are helpful against the run IF the safeties are good at fitting downhill from the hash marks and IF the defense is properly set ting edges in front of them. If not… …and there are plenty more examples from Secondly,2021.quarters coverages are vulner able deeper down the field. They can be hell on teams trying to throw anything quick or off a three-step drop, but if a team can protect the quarterback long enough to read a safety’s reaction to multiple deep routes, there are 1-on-1s
galore to attack. Hudson Card con nected on a few in the open practice for Texas’touchdowns.single-high man coverages are good at getting numbers around the box quickly while keeping someone over the top to prevent a touchdown on a post route, but they’re vulnerable on crossers and throws in the middle of the field. The quarters coverages lock down everything quick and intermediate but consequently are a little slower to arrive against the run and less reliable over the top. What matters is playing great team de fense with the linebackers helping disrupt routes and the pass-rush preventing quarterbacks from sitting back and dis secting the downfield coverage.
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Vince Young ran through the Michigan defense for 192 yards and 4 touchdowns and passed for another 180 yards and a TD as the Longhorns topped the Wolverines 38-37 in the 2005 Rose Bowl.
From the Photo Archives
When New Orleans (La.) Isidore Newman Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Arch Manning originally burst onto the recruiting landscape, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian made sure the Longhorns were one of the first teams in heavy pursuit of the gunslinger from football’s first family. Throughout the process for Arch and the rest of the Manning family, whether visiting campuses, meeting with coaches at Newman, or just fielding phone calls and texts, Texas let Manning know how much he was wanted in Austin. That relentless pursuit by Sarkisian, AJ Milwee, and a host of others involved with the Longhorn football program has paid off. Manning committed to Texas, choosing the Longhorns over Georgia and Alabama.
Longhorns recruiting highlighted by landing the #1 recruit in the country, Arch Manning by Inside Texas Staff
Arch Manning, son of former Ole Miss wide receiver Cooper Manning, nephew of famed NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, and grandson of former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning, had one of the highest profile recruitments in recent memory. National powerhouses like Georgia, Clemson, and Alabama were involved from the jump. Other institutions with connections to the Mannings like Ole Miss, LSU, Tulane, SMU, and Virginia all were involved in some form or fashion.
PHOTO: JUSTIN WELLS
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ARCH MADNESS!
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WELLSJUSTINPHOTO:--RANDLEWILL
Strengths: Good height and frame for the position. May not be done grow ing. Shows good functional athleticism in game settings. Will prove surprisingly elusive and faster than expected when the play breaks down. Has good film from both under center and in shotgun. Takeaway and drop are smooth with sure cross-steps. Ball carriage is mid-chest and eyes remain downfield. Reaches the top of his drop with a balanced athletic base and ready to push off to deliver the ball. Reads both sides of the field and influences the safeties routinely with head movement. Resets his feet frequently as needed. Delivers a consistent, mostly three-quarters delivery that is compact and quick. Finishes with a nice wrist snap and usually on balance with a good transfer of lower body power to upper body movement. Ball rotation is usually pretty high RPM and the nose doesn’t dive. Drives the ball really well to the short zones and up the seams. Has arm strength to reach all zones.
As the recruitment carried on, the list of suitors was winnowed down to a final three of Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. Manning took an official visit to Athens, Ga. that began on June 3, visited Tuscaloosa, Ala. the weekend of June 10, then took his official visit to Austin on June 17. Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart and offensive coordinator Todd Monken gave Manning a strong pitch. It wasn’t enough to overcome what Sarkisian and Milwee had spent the better part of the last year cultivating with the No. 1 overall prospect according to the On3 Manning’sConsensus.commitment
lurbocharged the momentum for Texas’ 2023 recruit ing efforts. Other top prospects added their commitments throughout the summer including On3 No. 27 Derek Williams, On3 No. 47 Cedric Baxter and On3 No. 42 Malik Muhammed. In obtaining Manning’s commitment Sarkisian picked up the best 2023 prospect for a position he describes as the most important in sports. Excerpt from Recruiting Notebook
Areas for Improvement / Concern: We would like to see the ball out a little earlier, especially on comebacks/curls/hooks.
26 inside texas insidetexas com Accuracy is exceptional and ball placement is very good most of the time.
It starts with the Mannings and their general fondness for the school. We knew Cooper Manning almost went to UT, and then more famously Eli Manning nearly did as well. But what really caught our attention was when we learned how close Cooper and Ellen Manning were to sending their daughter May to UT. Okay, so now we know the family’s fondness extended into the younger generation. Interesting. We also would go on to find out how well Cooper fit in with a subset of Texas Ex businessmen, mostly living in Dallas. We knew he had friends all over — and would later learn that extended to Georgia alums — but these were relationships that went well beyond business. That’s all fine and well, but Cooper went to Ole Miss like his father and brother and surely his son will do the same. That’s not what the early information led us to believe. Early on it wasn’t so cut and dried Ole Miss wouldn’t be a factor, but it was clear long before Arch would pick his school. So maybe there’s a chance, but the Mannings aren’t going to let Tom Herman turn Arch into a Zamboni like they did Sam Ehlinger, so the story was on hold. When Steve Sarkisian replaced Tom Herman, the story came out of the deep freeze to thaw. Almost immediately after Sark was hired I had people calling me to say how big this could be for Arch. Arch? At the time the focus of Longhorn QB recruiting was on Quinn Ewers but the details were interesting. IT learned the Mannings viewed Sark as a top-five offensive mind in college football and it was pretty clear Arch wouldn’t be playing for
Has a good feel for the required throw, showing great touch on the bucket throw and good drive on the driven throw.
Throws every route in what appears to be a pretty diverse playbook. Feel for the pass rush is instinctive and he knows his escape routes well. His best film is on the run with some very difficult throws both to his throwing hand side and also back against his body. Makes a great off-schedule throw with regularity and clearly understands the body mechanics required to get the ball down the field in those situations (e.g., re-squaring his shoulders).
The receiver doesn’t need to wait for it. Another concern is about the level of talent he’s playing with and against. He’s clearly the best player on his team and an 8-0 regular season is no fluke, but there are a lot of plays where he’s run ning for his life (kinda like Archie). Interceptions are at a rate of 1 every 35 pass attempts for the career (Ewers is 1 every 80 and Klubnik 1 every 105). We don’t know the context of those interceptions.
WELLSJUSTINPHOTO:
A team that goes 5-7 has no business landing the the nation‘s No. 1 prospect, let alone the latest model from the Manning family quarterback assembly line, right? We forgive anyone who thought Inside Texas was off its rocker for covering this recruitment so earnestly, but anyone who read this site understood this development was possible for myriad, complementary reasons.
A Perfect Storm
Meanwhile the Texas visit went very well and Sarkisian was already pulling consensus building levers between Arch and a handful of top prospects.
4Texas had campus life in its favor. Arch doesn’t want the attention that comes with playing the quarterback position at a major school. Factor in his last name and it’s even more difficult to blend in. The bigger environment of Austin, which reminded him of New Orleans, benefitted the school.
4To say nothing negative of Georgia, academics benefitted the school as well. It was refreshing to hear how much educa tion mattered. They were taking nothing for granted with Arch and the NFL. Perhaps Cooper’s own injury history and suc cess in the real world gave him such good perspective.
272022 SEASON PREVIEW any of the other four. We put that story on the small burner to simmer until Quinn Ewers picked Ohio State when we turned up the heat. Arch visited Texas in the summer of 2021. He was off a recent Clemson visit that produced a ton of buzz, but the end result was they really liked Dabo Swinney and the school setting, but the offense made it a no-go.
4 Quinn Ewers’ reclassification was big. It’s freaking unreal Texas will have both on the roster. That would not have hap pened without Ewers reclassifying. Sark played that well, by the way. He was honest and up front with the Mannings about the pursuit of Ewers, but made it clear Quinn wasn’t going to be on campus all that long.
As summer ended Clemson was mostly out, if not entirely. Ole Miss was already out. LSU was a non-factor. As Arch began his junior year, this race narrowed down to Texas, Georgia, and Alabama, even if many didn’t realize it. That brings us to that 5-7 record. No matter how much the Mannings liked Sark, relationships wouldn’t be enough to seal it, right? No, that wasn’t enough, but Texas had so many other factors going for it. Here are just a few: — The staff Sark assembled was very well suited to work as a team and win this recruitment. Along with Sark’s reputa tion for offense and quarterback development, AJ Milwee’s demeanor and personality was seen as a perfect fit for Arch (and the coaches at Isidore Newman, who he struck deep bonds with). On top of that, Terry Joseph played a key introductory role and always had his ear to the street. You have to approach recruitments in a way that is custom fit to the recruit’s per sonality and Texas, with the help of Joseph, did just that. Also assisting was Kyle Flood. He took a more prominent role in the recruitment after his fantastic offensive line haul, which itself was a key factor.
WELLSJUSTINPHOTO:
If you felt Occam’s razor was ‘Georgia good, Texas bad’ you were going to be wrong from the start. It could have just as easily been comparing Kirby Smart’s quarterback track record compared to Steve Sarkisian’s. In the end the Mannings made a holistic decision, and the school was set up well to win because of a perfect storm of factors.
4While Cooper had so many good relationships with Texas alumni, Arch has a number of strong relationships with cur rent Texas students. Every time he visited we heard how comfortable he was on campus — and also how normal he was.
Manning spurning the National Champion Bulldogs and the best college coach of all-time Nick Saban for Texas is a total game changer for a program that has been engaged in message board battles about how mediocre the last decade has been more than big wins.
For those that don’t believe perception is a massive driver in recruiting, Arch Manning’s commitment to the Longhorns should have brought you out from under that rock. Manning absolutely dominated a news cycle on levels never seen by a high school prospect.
PHOTO:
By Gerry Hamilton
While the full story is yet to be written, the past helps predict the future. Manning immediately jumps to No. 1 on a list of the most impactful Longhorn recruitments in the last 25 years.
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1. ARCH MANNING
Manning provides Steve Sarkisian and staff instant cred ibility, and yes he will certainly have an impact on the 2023 class. That’s the easy part of the equation. The big part of the equation is a story yet to be written.
With one tweet, Arch Manning instantly became No. 1 on this prestigious list. Manning instantly placed the Texas Longhorns in an en vious spot in the 24 hour news cycle. Literally, everyone had stories or mentions of Manning choosing Texas over Georgia and Alabama.
Arch’s progress will keep a national lens focused on
The Five Most Impactful Recruits in the Last 25 Years
Having the first family of football as part of the Univer sity of Texas is a big deal. A really big deal. The Texas football program is in position to garner as much national attention as any other if the Longhorns capitalize on the field of play this season.
JUSTIN WELLS
The Aggies to this day may still believe Reggie McNeal was a better prospect, but that’s a different article. Vince Young was a phenomenon in the Houston area. He moved and played in way different than anyone had ever seen. And he did it with flair and personality. His dominant performances in the Astrodome were in front of more than 30,000 fans on multiple occasions.
The perception in recruiting will change with a few more wins on the field this season. Don’t focus solely on the 2023 class, but future classes and how that will impact the recruiting efforts of Sarkisian and staff. And the reach will go beyond football. The back-to-back Learfield Director’s Cup winning Longhorns will garner even more attention from prospects in a number of sports. There is so much more than can be written, but watching it play out in the future will be much more meaningful.
When Chris Simms flipped from Tennessee to Texas
January 23, 1999, the perception of Longhorns football instantly changed. And that was prior to social media and the rabid 24-hour news cycle. Simms spurning the National Champion Volunteers for Texas opened the door for Mack Brown to rebuild the Texas program into a National Championship contender. The son of Phil Simms picking Texas in 1999 was a huge story in the recruiting world. Texas signed the nations No. 1 recruiting class in 1999, coming off of a successful first season on the field under Brown headlined by Ricky Wil liams Heisman Trophy and record breaking season. Simms may not have won a National Cham pionship at Texas, but he had a major impact on Mack Brown winning one in Austin. Simms provided national ap peal for the Longhorns, and gave a huge boost to the in-state recruiting efforts. It was Chris Simms that hosted Roy Williams, B.J. Johnson and many others on visits during his time at Texas. He helped place Texas in the national spotlight for four years. Simms saying yes to Texas provided Mack Brown, Tim Brewster and staff a clear message in Simmsrecruiting.fully understands how big of an impact he had on the building of the Texas program, and what the commit ment of Arch Manning means for the future.
Vince Young was the nations No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2002 cycle by our very own Bobby Burton. Only the Texas A&M fan base thought Burton was wrong.
2. CHRIS SIMMS
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Texas. Peyton Manning and Eli Manning in the stands in Austin will generate national buzz. Applications to the University of Texas will spike even more. One could go on and on.
3. VINCE YOUNG
CHRIS SIMMS
VINCE T.J.YOUNGFORD
When Young picked Texas in 2003, the Longhorns inked a second No. 1 ranked class under Brown. While much of the heavy lifting had been done building the program, Young was another pied piper in the state of Texas, especially in Houston. Young cemented what was already known, Texas is a national power under Brown. More than any one prospect that he helped recruit to Aus tin, he got Texas and Brown over the finish line January 4, 2006. And he did so with the best performance one will ever witness in a National Champion ship game, especially considering the record setting opponent, USC.
Ford gets much of the credit for helping make Texas a “cool school”. Just ask Daniel Gibson, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Durant, Cory Joseph, Tristan Thompson, Jordan Hamilton and others. Ford was a true trailblazer recruit for the Univer sity of Texas.
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4. T.J. FORD Like Young, T.J. Ford was a massive recruiting win for the Texas Longhorns. Ford and the Willowridge Eagles packed every gym with a cult-like following, including yours truly. When Ford committed to Texas at an elementary school in Baytown, the future of the Texas basketball program instantly changed — even though many Texas fans didn’t realize it. Ford was a true pied piper. Rick Barnes and then-assistant Rob Lanier knew it. And Ford’s family knew it. Ford’s mom had a vision for her son at the University of Texas. The undersized, ultra-athletic point guard had personality and a smile that would have made Mack Brown comment in a signing day press conference. This was a really big deal, even if not understood by a football-centric Longhorn nation. Without Ford, there is not a Final Four appearance. And probably not two Naismith and Wooden Awards in the Frank Denius Family University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame.
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And Ford, like other pied pipers, know just how impactful Manning choosing Texas truly will be.
5. CORY REDDING
On the recruiting trail, the Aggies were winning big in Dallas and Houston. Red ding being the top defensive prospect in the country coming out of emerging power North Shore High served as the ultimate game changer. Not only did Mack Brown end up reeling in future NFL draft picks from North Shore in Chykie Brown and Trey Hopkins, but the Longhorns won many big battles in the Houston area for a decade. Redding’s reach went beyond Houston too, helping Brown’s vision for recruiting the state serve as reality for prospects like Derrick Johnson and Cedric Benson to follow.
For those that don’t know how big of a deal Redding’s recruitment was for Texas and Brown, several other Houston area prospects in the 1999 and 2000 classes were also in attendance at North Shore High for his announcement. I was in attendance, and still remember walking out of the high school auditorium that day knowing the perception of Texas with top prospects was quickly changing.
CORY REDDING
His impact went beyond basketball. Staying home, getting to the Final Four and winning the “basketball Heisman” carried over to football, and other sports in the years following.
The 1999 class was officially the awakening of a sleeping giant per Bobby Burton and Allen Wallace. As impactful as Simms was nation ally, Redding was just as impactful in Texas.
Texas A&M under R.C. Slocum was ruling the state in recruiting long before the slogan was a mere bad t-shirt idea by Daylon Mack.
Chris Simms and Cory Redding elevated the Texas football program, and provided Mack Brown with powerful recruiting momentum. Brown’s first full class finished No. 1 headlined by the Parade AllAmerican Team offensive and defensive players of the year.
The Longhorns program needed a major boost in the Houston area.
2022 TEXAS LONGHORN FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Week 1 vs. Louisiana Monroe September 3 Austin,TX Week 2 vs. Alabama September 10 Austin,TX Week 3 vs. UT San Antonio September 17 Austin,TX Week 4 vs. Texas Tech September 24 Lubbock,TX Week 5 vs. West Virginia October 1 Austin,TX Week 6 vs. Oklahoma October 8 Dallas,TX Week 7 vs. Iowa State October 15 Austin,TX Week 8 vs. Oklahoma State October 22 Stillwater,OK Week 9 vs. Kansas State November 5 Manhattan,KS Week 10 vs. TCU November 12 Austin,TX Week 11 vs. Kansas November 19 Lawrence,KS Week 12 vs. Baylor November 25 Austin,TX 2022 TEXAS FOOTBALL:
FOOTBALL: WEEK BY WEEKbyIanBoyd
Another confounding factor for the Warhawks is the departure of both coordinators. Offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez did a one-year stint with them before taking a head coaching job at Jacksonville State (FCS). What’s more, he took hotshot young defensive coordinator Zac Alley with him. Head coach Terry Bowden rebuilt the staff with Vic Koenning, who was Neal Brown’s defensive coordinator at Troy and West Virginia before making insensitive comments in 2020 around the George Floyd murder which lead to his firing. On offense they retain Matt Kubik, who was quarterbacks coach and co-coordinator with Rich Rod. Continuity here is less of a concern as Kubik’s involvement and coordination predates the one-year stop by the old spread guru. The roadmap for the ULM offense is pretty simple. They’ll spread Texas out for the purpose of running the ball with zone-option featuring either returning quarterback, both of whom are dual-threats, and try to hold onto the ball with a power-spread approach. This line can’t protect against the Texas front if they try and drop back to throw, even if Texas’ pass-rush is as limited as feared. Defensively? Their defensive tackles both measure in at 6-foot-0 and around 300 pounds and were accustomed to getting heavy support from the linebackers in 2021 on the blitz. There’s little reason to think they can make a real stand against the Keondre Coburn (99) and Moro Ojomo (98)
34 inside texas insidetexas com Texas’ season opener in 2022 is fittingly easy. The common wisdom in college football is that your team’s biggest leap in improvement comes between Weeks 1 and 2. Coaches and players on the same team can often only get so far playing each other in fall practices before they need the stress test of facing an external opponent to clarify what’s working and what needs changing. So it’s often nice to have an opener against a team who can’t punish you too badly if your sense of what’s working needs major adjustments. For much of the Matt Campbell era, for instance, the Cyclones have struggled in Week 1 with some close wins against Northern Iowa and that famous loss to Billy Napier’s Louisiana Ragin Cajuns which threw everyone off the scent in 2020 only for Iowa State to rebound and go to the Big 12 Championship Game. Much of Longhorn nation spent the summer of 2021 concerned about those Napier Cajuns, I believe I even went so far to say it would be the greater challenge over the road trip against Arkansas because of the Week 1 unknowns dynamic. Anyways,Oops. Louisiana-Monroe is not Billy Napier’s Louisiana. I checked. Matching Up In The Trenches
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE 2021 RECORD | 4-8WEEK 1
The Warhawks are also losing some of their D-line starters and one of their two good inside linebackers, Traveion Webster. Their ability to put up roadblocks against Texas’ run game is also very much in question.
This is generally the easy part when a school like Texas plays a school like LAMonroe. The smaller program can’t recruit the big bodies and athletes to withstand the push of your offensive line, or to rush the passer, and certainly not to stay in the way of your own D-line’s athletes in their path to the quarterback. As it happens, LA-Monroe is missing a huge chunk of their starting offensive linemen from a year ago including the left tackle. Of their five starters who took the field when they gave Napier’s Cajuns a close game, only one appears to still be on the roster in right tackle Victor Cutler, a 6-foot-3, 292-pound sophomore. I think that gives a pretty clear sense of the limitations of this group. Texas’ D-line will not only be faster and more explosive than the offensive linemen across from them, which is standard for O-line/D-line battles, they may also be bigger and stronger.
Texas is going to have to balance their approach with the challenge of facing Alabama in Week 2. You don’t really want to show the good stuff in this game, just rep the basics and see how your young infrastructure on the offense handles the tasks of communication, working in combination, and making the right reads. The easiest way would be to go heavy with a lot of 12 personnel formations and simply run over the Warhawks. They could mix in some play-action bombs once they have a good sense of what coverages they’re getting. With that recipe, they could be sure to pull away eventually even if they have a sluggish Then,start.
In Summation
an intense week of practice and preparation for the real season opener. This game has been absolutely looming on the Texas schedule for years and years now. The thought has been, “better have your ducks in a row by 2022, Alabama’s coming.”
Now we come to it, the meaning of the game has been somewhat diminished. Texas is in year two of the Steve Sarkisian era and will be coming off one of the most wildly productive offseasons in Longhorn history. They’re in the enviable position in which a defeat to the Tide wouldn’t be terribly shocking or disappointing while a close loss or an outright win would be a massive boost. They’ll be playing Alabama more in the future anyways, so this isn’t an exclusive measuring stick opportunity Texas won’t get again. Whenever they join the SEC the Tide will be there competing for the same conference crown. A blowout loss in this game would be a rough start to the season, but Texas doesn’t have too much pressure
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE Christian Jones 2021 RECORD | 13-2WEEK 2
The No. 1 and No. 3 receivers are back on offense but this is a power-spread team who didn’t throw it very effectively last year and certainly won’t this year with a retooled offensive line.
Despite the presence of Rich Rod, what made LA-Monroe an interesting and often very competitive team in 2021 was not their offense. While they finished 4-8 on the year, they defeated Liberty, played LSU within two scores, went down 21-16 against Napier’s Cajuns, and held their last four opponents all under 30 points. They did this with very aggressive coverages and blitzes from the secondary. They had a variety of six-man pressure schemes, would play press-quarters or pure man-free on other snaps, and were always all up in the offense’s business. Unfortunately for the Warhawks, five different defensive backs who were starters or played regularly in 2021 are now gone via the transfer portal (Josh Newton went to TCU) or graduation. Strong safety Jabari Johnson returns, but the cornerbacks and nickel who helped make their aggressive coverages work with their press-man coverage do not.
Contesting Space
Texas’ run game. They might be able to rush the quarterback effectively, depending on whether their tactics have changed with the coordinator.
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At Troy and West Virginia, Vic Koenning had a different approach. He’d trust sturdy, powerful defensive fronts to tie down offenses while his secondary hung back and kept the ball in front of them. To implement that strategy at ULM would be a sea change. It may or may not suit their personnel up front and would require a complete retraining of their defensive backs.
The Warhawks’ best bet, should they opt for it, would be to aggressively blitz the Longhorns from every direction and try to confuse a young(?) offensive line and quarterback. If they can confuse and slow down the Texas offense, perhaps their own offense can attempt a plodding spread approach heavy on zone-option and perimeter screen passes and sneak out a win in a low-scoring game.
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
Matching
National media have been discussing the Tide as though they were heading into the 2022 season as an absolute juggernaut. When your Heisman-winning quarterback Bryce Young and #RightfulHeisman star defensive player Will Anderson both return, people tend to have big expectations. However the 2022 draft claimed both of Alabama’s star wide receivers, both offensive tackles, the best cornerback, top defensive tackle, the star running back, and a starting linebacker. They went portal shopping to help fill in some of the gaps, but such a move alone is indicative of potential weakness.
Xavier Worthy
36 inside texas insidetexas com on them. Just show up and be competitive. As it happens, I think this might be a more manageable task than commonly assumed.
Up In The Trenches
For instance, in their spring game the Tide started Kendall Randolph at left tackle. He was the jumbo tight end back in 2020 when Steve Sarkisian wanted to get big to run the football during their championship run. He was hopelessly outmatched trying to block Alabama’s outside linebackers Anderson and Dallas Turner and shortly after the Tide went into the portal to get Vanderbilt’s starting left tackle Tyler Steen. The problem is that Tyler Steen wasn’t that terribly good for Vanderbilt. Why could none of the Tide’s various 5-star O-line recruits fill in the gap? Why was a transfer necessary?
The Tide do return blocking tight end Cameron Latu and have a bit more of a sure thing at running back in transfer Jahmyr Gibbs. The interior O-line is also pretty intact. Between those features and what’s likely to be a very good defense, it seems highly probable Nick Saban’s Tide will be back on their old formula of running the ball and playing defense while they hope to retool the passing game for quarterback Bryce Young in time for the postseason. Unfortunately for Texas, they have neither the lethal Edge rusher who could expose Alabama’s lack of proven tackles nor the elite tackle to mitigate Alabama’s tandem of lethal Edge rushers. Winning trench battles in pass protection on either side of the ball will be fairly dubious in this one. Texas will have to find advantages running the ball, stopping the run, and out in space. The good news is all of those advantages are there to be found. Contesting Space Even without their star wide receivers, the Tide had a chance in the National Championship game against Georgia if not for their losses at cornerback which left them vulnerable to some deep shots by Stetson SabanBennett.aimed to shore this up by upgrading at cornerbacks coach from Jay Valai (now with the Sooners) to Travaris Robinson (T-Rob), and getting cornerback Eli Ricks from LSU via the transfer portal. Alabama’s safeties return four highly experienced
Similarly, their attempt to replace John Metchie and Jameson Williams at wide receiver lead them to Georgia wideout Jermaine Burton and Louisville deep target Tyler Harrell. Both have real speed and are promising weapons to add, but neither were dominating at their previous spots and again, what of Alabama’s repeatedly top ranked recruiting classes? Could they not produce replacements?
players in Brian Branch (nickel), Jordan Battle (free safety), DeMarcco Hellams (strong safety), and Malachi Moore (utility).
Matching Up In The Trenches
They are very comfortable playing in nickel or dime and defensive coordinator Pete Golding is very careful to disguise their coverages. If there’s any question marks it’s outside at cornerback with Ricks and young Kool-Aid McKinstry. The Tide are likely to keep a safety over the top of Xavier Worthy, even on the blitz, to avoid giving up clear deep shots on a threestep drop. How do they handle drag routes from Worthy or Jordan Whittington? Can they keep up with Texas’ tight ends and running backs? Texas’ best bet is to spread the Tide out, run the ball on a diminished front, and count on the Tide overplaying deep throws to find opportunities underneath.
UTSA is not a typical G5 team up front along their offensive line. Offensive line coach Matt Mattox, another former Texas assistant who coached the Longhorn line which propelled D’Onta Foreman to a 2,000 rushing yard season, has built an impressive unit. The interior from left guard to right guard goes 6-foot-3, 340 pounds, 6-foot-3, 335 pounds, and 6-foot-3, 335 pounds. Center Ahofitu Maka was All-Conference USA a year ago and they are a real load. The Roadrunners also have a dual-threat quarterback in Frank Harris and several tight ends they can put on the field to lead block on quarterback keepers or bring extra mass to their off-tackle runs. It’s a power-option
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
On the flip side, Alabama may not have the chemistry, skill, or timing to torch anyone with their passing game just yet and therein lies Texas’ chief hope in this game. Pete Kwiatkowski’s preferred method of sitting back and daring the offense to execute down the field with runs and timing passes into coverage could be a tall order for the Week 2 version of Alabama.
UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor is a rising star who has familiarity with the Texas program (assistant in 2015 and 2016) and plenty of motivation to chase a big win. His Roadrunners went 12-2 last year and were Conference-USA Champions. For 2022 they return quarterback Frank Harris but lose offensive lineman Spencer Burford (4th round draft pick), cornerback Tariq Woolen (5th round pick) as well as their top pass-rusher (Clarence Hicks) and running back Sincere McCormick. It was a pretty serious talent drain for a G5 school, however Traylor has plugged in a fresh wave of transfers including former Arkansas running back Trelon Smith, who had some solid runs against Texas a year ago (not the ones you’re remembering in your
Thenightmares).Roadrunners are a pretty solid program thanks to Traylor’s knack for culture-building, recruiting, and also featuring his top players. They’ll be an interesting challenge for Texas coming off whatever happens in the Alabama game the week prior.
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Sam Ehlinger
Roschon Johnson
In Summation Alabama has a lot of question marks obscured by some obvious top-line strengths and over a decade of earning the benefit of the doubt. The next time Saban’s Alabama plays a high profile, non-conference game and loses it will be the first. However, they may not have the same explosive firepower in 2022 due to their losses at offensive tackle and wide receiver and even if they do find it, perhaps it won’t come in time to blow away the Longhorns in Austin. In a hard-fought battle in the Texas heat which could sap the strength of big men for both teams, the Longhorns have a chance to drag Alabama to hell if they can land some big plays in the passing game and play sound run defense.
2021 RECORD 12-2WEEK 3
On the surface, facing UTSA in Austin the week after playing Alabama looks like a potential trap game for the Texas Longhorns.
38 inside texas insidetexas com running team probably comparable in quality to the best running teams in the Big 12.
In Summation
On the flip side, the Roadrunners also have a stout run defense and return both starting inside linebackers as well as fireplug safety Rashad Wisdom (5-foot-9, 205 pounds) who led the team in tackles last season with 87 from boundary safety. They’re well built to execute the traditional strategy of “stop the run, hit the quarterback on 3rd down” save for losing their star pass-rusher Clarence Hicks. It’s a 3-4, tite front defense which uses a bigger nickel and will protect him over the top with the field safety and a roving Wisdom. This will probably be a 2021 Louisiana level of run defense, whom Texas struggled to overcome in Week 1 but ultimately managed to subdue. Again, not a nightmare but certainly a real opponent.
In between the Longhorns and a Big 12 title in 2022 is a conference slate which begins on the road against a rebuilding Texas Tech
Texas’ sizable advantage on the perimeter, combined with the departure of Hicks at Edge, is the main reason UTSA isn’t a great upset threat in Austin. Last year’s Longhorn team would have been more vulnerable trying to win by feeding Bijan Robinson 30 carries but this year’s Texas team is much too skilled at receiver and in the passing game. UTSA’s own passing game is a bit of a threat. Frank Harris is a limited but now very experienced passer and all three of his top receivers are back, headlined by Zhakari Franklin in the slot. If Texas is going to make good on being a defense who can get into a nickel package and lock teams down in man coverage, it needs to show up in this contest.
Jeff Traylor has taken a fledgling football program and turned them into a G5 power. This is a much better and more talented team than anyone would have ever expected to see come out of Texas’ satellite school to the south. However, they’re built to dominate G5 opponents with physical and imposing fronts on both sides of the ball and a smaller, dual-threat quarterback of the sort who routinely gives G5 defenses fits.
Texas has a stout interior of their own and for all their faults, weren’t bad against spreadoption schemes in 2021, so this isn’t the worst matchup but it’s no cakewalk.
Texas won’t be overmatched in the trenches and can show off the nature of modern football by exerting their blue blood privilege in space with superior athletes on the perimeter. UTSA has the talent to hold Texas’ attention but the Longhorns should be able to put them away with their athleticism.
Texas’ road trip to Lubbock is where the 2022 season really begins. The Alabama game has the potential to be a powerful one in terms of the story it will tell about this team and where they are in pursuit of the program’s long-term goals.
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE Jaddae Barron 2021 RECORD | 7-6WEEK 4
But Texas’ main, realistic goals for 2022 are not impacted by either a win or a loss against Alabama. This team needs to establish some real competitiveness and even domination over the Big 12 on their way out the door. If beating Alabama would be a mostly moral victory for the state of the program, failing to win a Big 12 Championship before leaving for the SEC would be a moral defeat.
Contesting Space While Traylor has done a phenomenal job building a tough, disciplined, and physically imposing team in the trenches the Roadrunners very much look like a G5 team in space. Bailey Zappe of Western Kentucky gave them all they wanted in a pair of shootouts last year throwing for 523 yards and five touchdowns in round one and then 577 yards and four touchdowns in round two (both narrow UTSA wins). This was with NFL cornerback Tariq Woolen no less. The 2022 Roadrunners have replaced him with West Virginia transfer Nicktroy Fortune who’s been a solid Big 12 cornerback the last few years in Morgantown, but is a likely downgrade. Their safeties in particular will struggle to hold up if asked to turn and run with burners down the field, many of their best veterans on defense built their reputations with run defense and not chasing track stars running routes.
The Red Raiders brought the two men who play on the edge of their offensive and defensive front to Big 12 Media Days, left tackle Caleb Rogers and Edge Tyree Wilson. Rogers is a good athlete who was pretty solid in 2021, he’s just a little on the smaller side for offensive linemen. He’s listed at 6-foot-5, 305 pounds and both of those measurements may have been a little generous, but if he’s improved his strength from last year his athleticism will make him
392022 SEASON PREVIEW team whose fans will be dialed up to 11 urging the Red Raiders to pull an upset.
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
Tyree Wilson leads a defensive front which returns the main tackles from 2021, Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford, after a pretty solid season. At linebacker they have finally lost some longtime stalwarts such as Colin Schooler and Riko Jeffers but still have Krishon Merriweather and a fresh transfer linebacker from Florida named Jesiah Pierre.
Theeffective.overall Tech line essentially matches the same description. They’ve imported USC transfer Ty Buchanan, who is tall and lanky, to help at tackle, and brought in shorter and quicker veterans in Cade Briggs (New Mexico State) and Cole Spencer (Western Kentucky) to fill out the lineup. Outside of their athletic but undersized line they have tight ends Mason Tharp (6-foot-9, 250 pounds) and Texas A&M transfer Baylor Cupp (6-foot-6, 245 pounds), neither of whom are much as blockers but both of whom can get up the seams and catch the
The concern for Texas is dealing with the offense, not falling for the double tight end personnel trap and ensuring they have the quickness on the field to match Tech’s obscured Air Raid proclivities.
Texas Tech Fans
Contesting Space Tech is trying to get back in the business of having the better skill athletes of the Big 12 on their team, particularly on defense where they’ve ironically been behind the private schools along I-35 since losing Mike Leach. New head coach Joey Mcguire is working to erase this deficit and hired longtime Lone Star State recruiter and defensive backs coach Marcel Yates to help. In the meantime, the defense is relying on transfers to help them in space. UCLA transfer Rayshad Williams is the top cornerback on the team and broke up 10 passes last year, A&M transfer Tyree Wilson had 13.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks and figures to do even better in their new 2-4-5 scheme, safety Reggie Pearson from Wisconsin is back to hold down the middle of the field. They also have a really strong nickel named Dadrion Taylor-Demerson who picked off three passes and broke up 10 a year ago. None of them could stop Texas from lighting them up for 70 points last year.
Matching Up In The Trenches
Overallball. they have a clear identity as a team who will ostensibly line up in heavy sets with extra tight ends but only to create matchups so they spray the ball around in space with the passing game.
The identity on defense is probably a 2-4-5 but they’ll need to rely heavily on slanting and movement because Bradford and Hutchings are short, quick tackles who aren’t going to be stacking offensive guards.
They did their best work a year ago swarming teams with penetration up front and downhill safeties. If you could beat them outside and down the field, it would all unravel. Consequently, they’re really a poor matchup for the Longhorns who have multiple receivers the Raiders are liable to struggle against. Offensively they have weapons but it’s unclear whether they have another Erik Ezukanma ready who can whip even good defensive backs 1-on-1. Probably they do, but we’ll have to see who emerges and he’ll need to be in place early to help them in this game.
Bijan Robinson 2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE 2021 RECORD | 6-7WEEK 5
Last season the Mountaineers started redshirt sophomore Doug Nester (6-foot-6, 330 pound former blue chip) at right guard next to freshman right tackle Wyatt Milum (6-foot-6, 308 pound former blue chip). They didn’t put it all together but overall the line got stronger as the year went on and now returns those two pieces (with Milum moving to the left side) along with the other three starters up front. The defensive front was built around the trio of Akheem Mesidor, Dante Stills, and Tajh Alston. They hoped to return all three when Stills opted to come back rather than going pro but Mesidor transferred to Miami. Despite that setback, West Virginia’s hopes of a breakout in 2022 rest in part on finally featuring upper-tier Big 12 play in the trenches on offense and defense. The other piece to their hopes is going from consistently yielding pressure and playing a highly pressure-averse passer in Jarrett Doege to shoring up their protections and upgrading to J.T. Daniels at quarterback. The last we saw of Daniels he was capably quarterbacking the eventual National Championship Bulldogs before an injury lead to him being replaced by Stetson Bennett.
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Joey McGuire is building something similar to what we’ve normally seen out in Lubbock but potentially more complete. The Red Raiders have struggled ever since pushing out the Pirate, Mike Leach. McGuire has a vision to integrate the missing piece (defense) while maintaining what has always worked out at Tech, the spread offense. New offensive coordinator Zach Kittley was an assistant for Kliff Kingsbury and brings a similar system. McGuire is hoping his own recruiting acumen combined with veteran anti-spread coach Tim DeRuyter (who coached the Aggie defense against Art Briles and Dana Holgorsen) can finally build a credible defensive program in Lubbock.
In summation
There’s a wide range of varying opinions on the 2022 West Virginia Mountaineers. From one perspective, they lost multiple defensive starters to graduation or the transfer portal after a third consecutive season in which Neal Brown failed to win more than six Fromgames.another, they “solved” the main issues plaguing the team over the last few years with the return of a promising young offensive line and the additions of transfer quarterback J.T. Daniels and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. Will those prove to be last ditch efforts by Brown to save his job or the final touches to a physical, defensively sound football program which is now ready to compete for Big 12 Championships? If the range of likely outcomes is truly that wide, and I believe it is, it’s fortuitous for Texas to draw the Mountaineers at home in Austin in West Virginia’s third big road game of the season (they open at Pitt and go to Virginia Tech the week prior). For the Longhorns this is the game immediately preceding the Red River Shootout, which can give games a degree of danger since the Sooners will always hold extra attention. Here’s how the teams appear to match up.
It’s definitely possible, but as fired up as the Raiders will be for this Big 12 opener, their future will be in trying to dominate post-Texit Big 12, not the current one.
Matching Up In The Trenches
412022 SEASON PREVIEW
Ryan Watts
Contesting Space If West Virginia surprises as a darkhorse Big 12 contender it’ll be due to successfully rebuilding the secondary with lesser known talents with athletic upside. For instance, they may start a cornerback tandem of Wesley McCormick (James Madison transfer) and Charles Woods (parttime starter in 2021 and FCS All-American for Illinois State in 2021).
Neal Brown expressly mentioned at Big 12 Media Days the goal with moves such as FCS transfer Marcis Floyd to safety was to get enough speed and coverage ability on the field to allow the Mountaineers to blitz six or seven at a time. That’s a risky venture, but if you can actually play up on receivers to deny easy releases and throws AND you are firing athletes like Stills, Kpogba, or Penn State transfer linebacker Lance Dixon into the backfield… you can cause real issues. Can all these FCS guys actually run and cover with Big 12 athletes? Woods’ 2021 film and examples from around the country suggest not to discount the possibility. There’s a similar unknown quality to the West Virginia receiver corps, headlined by Bryce Ford-Wheaton and likely featuring sophomore Kaden Prather. Ford-Wheaton is 6-foot-3, 220 pounds and caught 42 balls for 575 yards and three touchdowns last year and looked good doing it, but the production was still a bit limited. Returning slot Sam James had 42 catches for 505 yards and five scores. Jarrett Doege spread the ball around a lot, often to receivers inside because he didn’t have much arm for the downfield shots. Prather is big, 6-foot-4 and 211 pounds, and a former blue chip recruit. He did most of his damage last year against Texas, making four of his 12 catches for 48 of his 175 yards on the year. He’s a big chain-mover with the ability to go up and get the ball in the air and over the middle. Harrell won’t struggle to put all these guys to use in his Air Raid passing concepts and Daniels can hit comebacks and hitch routes outside all day.
In Summation
Texas fans wouldn’t necessarily guess it, since West Virginia has strangely torched them with the pass in two of the last three seasons, but they’ve hardly been dangerous on offense. In 2022 they could be.
Defensively much of the West Virginia system relies on having disruptive play at the two tackle spots, one really good inside linebacker, and then savvy safeties who can disguise and move around. The tackle spots should remain good with Stills’ return and Brown’s staff’s knack for finding and developing talent at the position. Inside linebacker is actually expected to be upgraded with Josh Chandler-Semedo’s transfer and replacement by JUCO Lee Kpogba. Chandler-Semedo was a converted outside linebacker better at playing outside in space for WVU in previous seasons than capably filling the interior gaps. Kpogba is a bigger player at 6-foot-1, 230 pounds who plays fast and downhill. Safety is less certain, they lost a bunch of seniors and have to start over with some young guys, although one spot will probably be filled by Murray State transfer and converted cornerback Marcis Floyd.
If Graham Harrell is successful in helping them to build an explosive HUNH (hurryup, no-huddle) spread offense where the quarterback is protected and coached well enough to make good decisions, it’d be a substantial shift for the Mountaineers.
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
West Virginia has size outside at receiver, which should be somewhat mitigated by Texas’ ability to put their own 6-foot-3 cornerback across from Ford-Wheaton, and some speed at defensive back which should let them get aggressive in attacking Texas’ young offensive line.
If Oklahoma is anywhere near as good as their over/under totals or fans expect for this season it’ll be due to the offensive and defensive line talent left behind by the previous staff. They have some athletes along the O-line, particularly tackles Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris, and imported big Cal guard McKade Mettauer. Those former two are the ones who really need to put it together this fall. Their new offensive system is the Art Briles “veer and shoot” and I think the “veer” part will be a very substantial component overall. They’re going to want to pound the ball into wide alleys formed by their spread spacing, which will require good tackle play in the run game. The defensive front loses four NFL players up front out of the inner five (two of the three D-linemen, Edge Nik Bonitto, and Mike linebacker Brian Asamoah). The returnee is Jalen Redmond whose transition to the power-based 3-technique play of Brent Venables defense should be interesting after years of slanting and stunting. The ends have a lot of returning talent, even though it’s a little inexperienced, and nose tackle is a curiosity. It sounds like they’ll rely on Isaiah Coe, a short but disruptive player in the mold of Poona Ford. Venables and D-line coach Todd Bates have their work cut out for them molding a unit which can protect a linebacker corps which doesn’t look like one of Venables’ units from Clemson or Oklahoma in the past. The
Overall this is a game in which the Longhorns need to be able to keep the Mountaineers back on their heels in the secondary which would allow them to repeat the last two seasons and run over the West Virginia front with Bijan and Roschon for a confidence-building win heading into the Cotton Bowl.
The 2021 Red River Shootout was truly one of the more fascinating games of the entire college football season. The Texas offensive line’s multi-year issues blocking Alex Grinch’s athletic and active defensive front persisted, but Steve Sarkisian dialed up a number of play-action shots and runs to crush them anyway. Texas scored 48 points and had a massive lead before their inability to block the Sooner fronts or defend their counter run schemes finally broke them Evendown.with those fundamental issues, there were wild swings in the game and it took some desperate haymakers by Oklahoma to pull the win out. Amongst them were several pure athleticism plays by freshman quarterback Caleb Williams and a fumbled kick return by freshman Xavier Worthy (stripped by 6th year senior Caleb Kelly).
It was a weird, fascinating game. I actually watched it on my phone in spare moments while serving as a groomsman during a very good friend’s wedding. They were announcing the bridal party at the reception and I was waiting in the hall, observing Texas kick off with a 48-48 tie and overtime likely coming. I came out the other side and it was over, the Sooners had won. Anyways, a lot has happened in Norman since then and the already uneven flow of the Sark versus Lincoln Riley matchup will change even more now it’s Sark versus Brent Venables. Matching Up In The Trenches
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE Texas Cowboys 2021 RECORD | 12-2WEEK 6
42 inside texas insidetexas com Will West Virginia put together winning performances in their big non-conference dates with Pitt and Virginia Tech and come into Austin with a lot of confidence against a still developing young Texas team? Or will they falter and stumble into DKR without an identity? I don’t know, but this could be a trap game for the Longhorns and it’s a mercy they don’t play it in Morgantown.
It’s unquestionably their best chance in this game. Yet even that would be a tough proposition and would likely require confusing and flustering the Texas quarterback in order to generate some turnovers. Brent Venables will throw the kitchen sink in this one, he’s gameplanned some real killers against Texas many, many times in his past and will surely know what it’ll take to generate some advantages for his team. His schematic battle with Sarkisian could be one for the ages.
It’s similar to the situation at tackle, although at least there the Sooners have a different caliber of athlete than most any other team in the league and the same is not true at cornerback. Oklahoma’s vulnerability to the Texas passing game outside has to be the dominant concern on the north side of the Red River. It’s hard enough to stop Bijan Robinson without worrying about sending help to the cornerbacks. The Sooners opted to focus on stopping Bijan a year ago and barely survived the consequences of this choice with a better front against a much weaker passing attack.
Contesting Space I’ll bet if there was any player on the Oklahoma roster Jeff Lebby was glad to see waiting for him it was Marvin Mims. The vertical choice routes which make this system go depend on having deep threats across the receiver corps and Mims is one guy who translates pretty cleanly to the new system. Theo Wease and Drake Stoops are less clear fits, although they are quality players, they just aren’t the “run fast down the field!” types who can make this offense really hum. New quarterback Dillon Gabriel knows how to make the reads and throws in this offense, although his inability to match Caleb Williams as a dual-threat runner will present limitations on their ability to run the ball and they lack a bruising, blocking tight end to make up the difference. On the defensive side of the ledger, Marcus Stripling could help them maintain a good pass-rush but coverage on the corners has to be a major concern. D.J. Graham was beaten over the top countless times a year ago and Woodi Washington has always looked like one of OU’s more promising defensive backs yet he also routinely lost receivers who ran by him in zone coverage while his focus was elsewhere. They’re both good athletes, perhaps Jay Valai can mold them into effective players for this coming season, but the gap between their 2021 play and winning play is big and there’s another gap between winning play and “can cover Xavier Worthy or Isaiah Neyor 1-on-1.”
The Iowa State Cyclones have routinely been a late-season, high leverage game for the Texas Longhorns in recent years. Tom Herman in particular had a few battles with the Cyclones in which a Big 12 Championship Game berth was basically on the line and generally came off worse in the ensuring encounters. The Cyclones’ flyover defense they designed, with three deep safeties at the snap, really confounded Herman and certainly wasn’t a cakewalk for Steve Sarkisian last year either. This season the
In Summation
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
Byron Murphy (90) and Moro Ojomo (98)
2021 RECORD 7-6WEEK 7
Oklahoma does not match up well with Texas in 2022. Their hopes would rest in playing a flyover style of defense rather than Venables’ normal 4-3 hybrid schemes and hoping to out-rush Bijan and Roschon with their own run game. Venables studied Iowa State’s defense while at Clemson and used it to shut down Ohio State in the semifinal in 2019.
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safeties and nickel linebacker who will be asked to charge in to help things out are all smaller, cornerback converts like Billy Bowman (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) and Key Lawrence (6-foot-0, 204 pounds). Texas may not be a particularly imposing team in the trenches yet but they’re bigger and stronger than their rivals across the Red River this year.
Matching Up In The Trenches
One of the main hopes for Iowa State in 2021 was they might finally field a truly good offensive line. It’s been a focus for Campbell since arriving and they had some size and potential heading into the season but it all blew up when both prospective starting tackles were injured early in the year. They ended up starting five guards before finding another tackle for the bowl game in young, 6-foot-9 and 320-pound Tyler Miller. One of the injured guys was a COVID senior who’s moving on now, the other was Jake Remsburg who’s now healthy and hoping to hold down right tackle, covering the blindspot for new left-handed starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers. Last year’s default left tackle Jarrod Hufford is sliding inside to guard, guard Trevor Downing goes to center, and guard Darrell Simmons is back for a third year as a starter. There’s a chance they could be pretty good as a result of this continuity and improved status on the edges. They’re also returning bludgeon-back Jared Rus as the sole tight end. Everyone keeps asking their coaching staff about maintaining their 12/13 personnel sets which had defined their offense but I think you should expect to see a lot more traditional spread with Rus in the backfield with a runner and a field spread with three receivers. Also notable, Dekkers is 6-foot-3, 235 pounds and not at all slow (three rushing touchdowns the last two years in mop up duty). They have all the pieces to mix in a heavy dose of power-spread football and cause some issues up front.
Iowa State becomes a real problem for everyone in 2022 if they can be as good up front on offense as they’ve been on defense.
44 inside texas insidetexas com Cyclones are down four players who went in the 2022 NFL draft and also lost former Big 12 DPOY Mike Rose (UDFA), star safety Isheem Young (transfer portal casualty), and tight end Chase Allen. Quarterback Brock “pump fake” Purdy (drafted last) is gone after four consecutive starts against the Longhorns (3-1 for Purdy), the tight ends who defined their offense the last few seasons are gone, star running back Breece Hall is gone (2nd round pick), it’s a very different looking team lining up for Matt Campbell this season. What should we make of them?
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
Generally speaking, Iowa State’s safeties haven’t really been athletes who can flip their hips and run with receivers. They need some help with redirection from the linebackers guarding slot receivers just as the linebacker need the safeties over the top. They may
Kyle Flood’s “large human” project isn’t quite ready to address the stalwart Cyclones, and if Campbell’s own big people like 6-foot-6, 330 pound Remsburg could finally be ready for a breakout season.
Contesting Space This area is why Iowa State was only 7-6 last season. They had two or three really fast athletes on the 2021 team between Hall, star pass-rusher Will McDonald, and maybe wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson. The latter two return. McDonald is a huge problem for offenses, he makes it much easier for Iowa State to generate a pass-rush with him and just two or three others and then drop people into coverage to shore up their otherwise limited secondary. One interesting tweak Iowa State made this offseason to their defense was to move cornerback Anthony Johnson to strong safety. This is supposed to help him build a case for the NFL, as he’s too limited an athlete to stick at corner as a pro, but it also solves for a problem Sarkisian attacked in Ames a year ago. The problem is who safeguards the safeties?
Defensively they lose four different players who made them really stout up the middle on defense between linebacker Mike Rose, safety Isheem Young, tackle Eyioma Uwazurike, and end Zach Petersen… yet they still have some more. Middle linebacker O’Rien Vance is 6-foot-1, 260 pounds, sophomore safety Beau Freyler is an emerging force up the middle, they know what they’re doing here.
In Summation To me the Iowa State Cyclones look much like they did in the last two seasons, even though a lot of the famous names are gone. To think Campbell doesn’t have some replacements lined up is silly, they have a strong program running now which can plug in new overlooked stars to replace the last bunch.
The 2021 Oklahoma State team is one of my favorite examples of how the importance of offensive line play can be overstated. The ‘Pokes were not very good up front, particularly in pass protection where they tried four different starters at tackle before settling on a lineup which put converted guards Cole Birmingham and Preston Wilson
The 2021 Oklahoma State Cowboys came within inches of winning their second Big 12 Championship of the Mike Gundy era. Their chance was arguably even better than it appeared. Star running back Jaylen Warren and senior center Danny Godlevske both missed the game, which put a lot on Spencer Sanders’ shoulder and unquestionably hurt them on the biggest play of the game and well before. Is their window now closed? The team was largely powered by a defense which yielded only 18.1 points per game and finished No. 2 in the country in defensive FEI. Then defensive coordinator Jim Knowles wrapped up a brilliant, four-year run and cashed in with a big contract from Ohio State. Four of their five starting defensive backs are gone. Both starting linebackers also graduated (both drafted in the sixth round) along with the nose tackle. The 2021 Cowboys also had an abundance of older, developed talent due to the COVID exemptions which is now gone. Mike Gundy is 3-2 against Texas in their last five games and 1-1 in the last two played in Stillwater, both classic battles. He’s also 1-0 against Steve Sarkisian after their comeback win in 2021. How much of a rebuild is he facing heading into 2022?
Matching Up In The Trenches
The problem is the same it’s ever been, they don’t have a lot of world class speed on the roster or plus athleticism on the perimeter on either side of the ball. Without it they get drawn into close, hard-fought battles every Saturday in which they can’t pull away from teams they would otherwise beat. If Texas is drawn into a close battle with this squad, it could be anybody’s game, but if Sark can better leverage Texas’ advantages on the perimeter they should be able to distance themselves from the Cyclones at home in Austin.
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE D’Shawn Jamison 2021 RECORD | 12-2WEEK 8
452022 SEASON PREVIEW have blown this coverage, or perhaps the strong safety across from Xavier Worthy was supposed to have him 1-on-1, but it’s a bad set up and should have been six points.
Different spread sets over the years have often caught Iowa State’s strong safety (the widest one to the field) 1-on-1 down the field with a slot receiver. Well the Cyclones have Johnson there now, a converted cornerback, so that may help. Yet overall, if you spread them out or protect well enough, you can typically find 1-on-1s down the field where they can be had. Whether Iowa State is a Big 12 contender or not next season will depend on their wide receiver corps. Hutchinson is back and he’s a great player, but they need some home run speed in the group and ideally for a true deep threat to emerge. Campbell can scheme up crossers for days but the Cyclones will struggle to put teams away or keep up in shootouts if they can’t find a big play skill talent on this squad.
Jaden Bray was very imposing in limited opportunities for OSU a year ago, including the Big 12 Championship Game where he caught three balls and drew a pair of defensive pass interference calls in the end zone to prevent touchdowns. Speedy slot
Spencer Sanders has, in Gundy’s words, a total mastery of their system now as a fourth-year starting quarterback. He also has a terrific skillset with his running ability and arm strength for hitting outside throws which has always made spread scheming easy in Stillwater.
Jarrick BernardConverse and Christian Holmes is certainly tough, as is losing leading receiver Tay Martin whom they tended to isolate and set up for big plays in 2021. Yet wide receiver isn’t a major concern.
JASON TAYLOR II
The biggest question marks for OSU regard whether they can protect Sanders well enough to realize their potential.
in the middle of the field.
There’s still some established stars and up and coming players who’ve had strength coach Rob Glass molding them a few years before they’re thrust into Big 12 games.
On the surface this is a massive concern for the Cowboys. A closer look suggests they may be in pretty good shape overall.
Contesting Space
In Summation
462022 SEASON PREVIEW at left and right tackle. Birmingham was injured in spring and Wilson is now the center, so Oklahoma State is starting back over at tackle this coming season and how they fare will probably determine their season. The plan on the line is for massive JUCO Caleb Etienne, who ended up redshirting in 2021, to be ready to hold down a spot and for right tackle to be manned by one of incoming transfers Casey Collier (USC) or “Queso” Brooks (Vanderbilt).
Inside linebacker goes to junior Mason Cobb and JUCO transfer Xavier Benson, who was a standout as a freshman back at Texas Tech before leaving to sort out personal issues and putting together a terrific season at Tyler J.C. Defensive linemen Tyler Lacy (listed 6-foot-4, 285 but at Media Days looked 310) and Brendon Evers are back inside and OSU has the best collection of Edges in the league between Trace Ford (4.5 sacks in 2020, injured in 2021), Brock Martin (nine sacks in 2021), and Collin Oliver (10.5 sacks in 2021). They also still have big safety Jason Taylor back (pick-six’d Casey Thompson in 2021) to hold down the middle of the back end.
Gundy has a number of veterans now to fill out the interior if OSU can just find at least one natural tackle to help them out in protection.
Oklahoma State is going to be pretty sturdy
Losing starting cornerbacks
receivers Brennan Presley and Braydon Johnson are both back, and then there are some rising upperclassmen and a few young former blue chips aside from Bray fighting for spots outside. At cornerback and nickel they’ll be promoting a trio of young athletes who’ve played a lot over the last year in Thomas Harper (nickel), Jabbar Muhammad (Malik’s cousin), and Korie Black. They’re starting to develop a pipeline here comparable to their success at wide receiver. Young safety Kendal Daniels is a 6-foot-4 former blue chip they’ll be using over the Everythingtop.checks out in terms of having promising athletes who’ve had time in the system to be able to hold up in this league.
OSU’s defensive front is in better shape.
Oklahoma State is probably going to run a 2-4-5 defense with a pair of truly terrific Edges on the field. Texas has to be worried about Alabama bringing a nasty 2-4-5 with superstars Will Anderson and Dallas Turner but they can be certain their trip to Stillwater
The Longhorns’ bye week comes at a favorable time in 2022. The week after they travel to Stillwater and face Mike Gundy’s Cowboys with their bevy of pass-rushers, they get a bye while the Cowboys travel to Manhattan to play the Kansas State ThenWildcats.the Longhorns follow suit and also travel up to the “little apple” to play the Wildcats, perhaps after having two weeks to brainstorm solutions if their pass protections prove to have been insufficient against Oklahoma State. The timing is useful, if there’s one school in the conference which can rival OSU for putting good Edge rushers on the field it’s the Wildcats. Kansas State is also getting back to their Bill Snyder-ball roots this season with new offensive coordinator Collin Klein installing an offense heavy on quarterback runs and featuring a transfer signal-caller (Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez) and a very Snyder-ish water bug running back in Deuce Vaughn. Despite now being coached by Chris Klieman, the Wildcats look like many of the K-State teams of the past Longhorn fans remember bedeviling Texas.
Kansas State is poised to enjoy the COVID senior exemption this coming season with their play in the trenches, particularly on defense. Nose tackle Eli Huggins is back as a super senior to help clog the interior in their new 3-down, flyover scheme and a pair of elder statesmen will line up behind him at linebacker in 5th-year senior Daniel Green and 7th-year ultra senior and Nebraska transfer (and onetime Texas JUCO target) Will Honas. They also took advantage of the portal to add some experience at safety to replace some graduates. K-State took in 6th-year senior safety and former TCU quarterback Shawn Robinson and 6th-year senior and Virginia transfer Josh Hayes who also once played cornerback for Klieman at North Dakota State. It’s a veteran-heavy team and probably will always be so, it simply makes sense for the program to always focus on attracting transfers as opposed to convincing athletic high schoolers to head up there. Offensively they aren’t as old up front but they might have a sneaky advantage on the interior. Right guard Taylor Poitier is back after an injury which robbed him of his 2021 Anthony Cook
472022 SEASON PREVIEW will encounter something remarkably close. So this is a game which will really test Texas’ offensive line and how well they’re protecting at tackle and picking up looping stunts inside. For Oklahoma State, this game will be one of the ultimate proving grounds for how well they’ve managed to rebuild their secondary after losing four starters. It’s possible both teams could decisively lose those battles, with Texas failing to block OSU’s front but OSU failing to successfully cover the Longhorn wideouts, which is an exchange which probably favors the Longhorns. A few hits on the quarterback can’t make up for a few shots landed on play-action, ask the Sooners. Texas can afford to lose some games and still make/win the Big 12 Championship and this would be a prime suspect for the game they’d be liable to lose. If they can win it, they’ll need to do so with defense and winning quarterback play (decision-making), as they did in their big 2020 road victory. 2021 RECORD | 8-5WEEK 9
The bye week should prove useful in preparing for what might be the second hardest game on the conference schedule.
Matching Up In The Trenches
Kansas State looks like this year’s version of the 2019 Baylor Bears, 2020 Iowa State Cyclones, or 2021 OSU Cowboys. A team with a fantastic pass defense who wins a lot of lower scoring, defensive games by running the ball and playing conservatively. If Texas doesn’t have their run defense house in order by this point in the season, or their protections and lineups up front aren’t established, this game is going to be real trouble. Drawing the Wildcats after a bye week and when K-State will be coming off a tough opponent will help. Their hopes for the season rest pretty heavily on health from 176-pound Deuce Vaughn and 210-pound Adrian Martinez. Those two will need to combine for 30+ carries a week and hold up all year under the strain. Aside from that consideration, Texas will be glad to get this game later in the year when they’ve had time to develop their offensive line and new pieces on offense. If they can’t put together a good plan for the flyover defense by this point in the year, a Big 12 title probably isn’t in the cards.
482022 SEASON PREVIEW season after a very promising 2020. He’s only 6-foot-2, 291 pounds but has long arms and terrific athleticism and was arguably their best lineman when he played. Nowadays the best lineman is Cooper Beebe, an NFL draft prospect, whom they hope to slide inside to left guard after having to use him at left tackle the last few seasons. Center could be former state heavyweight wrestling champion and all-name candidate Hadley Panzer. Don’t be shocked if this interior proves to be the best in the league.
Deuce Vaughn (22)
Contesting Space The Kansas State passing game could be pretty solid. Martinez has had his issues in the past but he has a strong arm and will finally be working behind a competent offensive line with better receivers than he typically had in Lincoln. Slot receiver Phillip Brooks is a good player, Deuce Vaughn is a nightmare when he’s flexed out, Malik Knowles and Chabastin Taylor have some size and loads of experience outside. If they do slide Beebe inside to road grade at guard it probably places redshirt freshman Andrew Leingang at left tackle, a 6-foot5 North Dakotan they’re already pretty invested in. That’s a tough gig but will Texas be particularly good at attacking unproven left tackles in 2022? Unclear. The K-State athleticism and skill on defense is shockingly good. Felix Anudike-Uzomah is back after his 11-sack 2021 season and will be joined by another good young Edge named Khalid Duke who had great reviews before being injured and Nate Matlack who was effective in 2021 as a redshirt freshman (four sacks). Their 3rd down package will be Behindmonstrous.them the Wildcats have their 3-deep safety shell and then returning starting cornerbacks Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents. Boye-Doe is sticky in coverage and can play man coverage while Brents is 6-foot-2, 202 pounds and can survive being targeted down the sideline. The addition of Josh Hayes at strong safety should give the Wildcats a lot of flexibility in coverage. This is likely the best pass defense in the Big 12.
Being particularly athletic and effective inside on the line will be useful given the addition of quarterback Adrian Martinez and return of Deuce Vaughn. The Wildcats have too many solid receivers back to abandon the pass but it’d be shocking if they didn’t run the ball heavily. They also return fullback Jax “the destroyer” Dineen, a 5-foot-10, 253 pound wrecking ball.
In Summation
492022 SEASON PREVIEW
The days of TCU serving as a ghost on the schedule every year, a likely loss due to the focused ire from former head frog Gary Patterson, are at last over.
Right guard: Esteban Avila, 6’4”, 334 lb 5-year player
2021 RECORD 5-7WEEK 10 Bijan
Right tackle: Marcus Williams, 6’6”, 321 lb 4-year player
TCU also added Texas tight end Jared Wiley to reprise his role in the Tom Herman offense as a blocking Y-back who will also probably get a lot more action flexed out and running routes for Dykes.
Their 2022 line will likely go:
It’s obviously a big group and Avila and Ali are both good, proven players who can each play center or tackle. Despite losing “star” running back Zach Evans to the inducements of Ole Miss, they still return Kendre Miller who ran for 623 yards at 7.5 ypc last season.
Sonny Dykes now takes over the Horned Frog program and has made some moves which could get them on a more productive path. The offensive talent stockpiled in Fort Worth may find better direction under the old Air Raid guru while the defense is finally trying a new philosophy, abandoning Patterson’s 4-2-5 for the flyover defense. Overall TCU is an interesting looking matchup this season.
The likelihood of Patterson helping Texas defeat TCU with special prejudice is very high, whether they need it or not.
Left tackle: Andrew Coker, 6’7”, 319 lb 4-year player
Steve Sarkisian defeated Patterson and eliminated one of the resume points which was keeping the head frog afloat in Fort Worth. Then he followed this up by flipping Patterson to the burnt orange cause, bringing him aboard as an analyst for Texas under the title of “special assistant to the head coach.”
Avila, whom I saw at Big 12 Media Days. He’s built like Maui from “Moana” and is nearly as wide in the shoulders as he is tall. Defensively is another story. Patterson’s 4-2-5 collapsed the last few years due to a downgrade in play at defensive tackle and their two most disruptive ends (Ochaun Mathis and Khari Coleman) both transferred out. New defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie is running a copy of Iowa State’s 3-down flyover scheme, which he used very effectively at Tulsa the last few seasons. The scheme puts a major emphasis on big, stout defensive linemen who can hold the point of Theattack.Frogs have been busy overhauling the unit and added Georgia transfer Tymon Mitchell to play nose while bulking up end Dylan Horton to play 3-down end and sliding out overmatched tackle Terrell Cooper to do the same. Behind them they have Jamoi Robinson
AlanCenter:Ali, 6’4”, 309 lb 5-year player
Matching Up In The Trenches
Left guard: Brandon Coleman, 6’6”, 321 lb 4-year player
Gary Patterson had done a pretty good job of assembling some large humans in Fort Worth which will help Dykes in his quest to build a balanced spread offense. The Frogs didn’t protect the quarterback very well last year or really most other seasons, but they were generally very powerful and effective in the inside zone run game.
It’s a good interior group, the likelihood they will run the ball effectively this season is extremely high. I’ve seen Dykes build worthy run games from much weaker linemen than
Demarvion Overshown 2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE 2021 RECORD | 2-10WEEK 11
The Frogs look a lot like Texas’ own team in many respects. They have each an explosive looking offense with questions at tackle regarding pass protection, a defense with some shifting parts and good cover men but iffy pass-rush, and a changing relationship to Gary Patterson.
TCU is in better shape here than up the middle of their defense. Trevius HodgesTomlinson is back at cornerback and so is Noah Daniels, who’s been a bigger and better pro prospect but also has failed to be healthy for a full season while wearing the purple and black.
In Summation
Texas should be fine against the new-look Frogs in 2022, but the Frogs are definitely a dangerous team who could be in the mold of a Kliff Kingsbury Red Raider squad where you probably won’t lose but you won’t be comfortable either. So… Texas’ ability to time their worst days over the last half-decade for the week in which they play the Jayhawks has been pretty remarkable. In 2016 Shane Buechele was injured early in the game (Jayhawks won 24-21). In 2018 Texas was coming off a short week and a game where Sam Ehlinger left the game early after taking a shot to his already injured shoulder from one of the hardest hitting safeties in the league (Iowa State’s Greg Eisworth, Texas won 24-17). The 2019 Longhorns were badly beaten up by injury and somehow taken aback by Kansas’ bye week offensive shift (Texas won 50-48). The 2021 Longhorn defense appeared to be throwing in the towel on the season after a
50 inside texas insidetexas com Hodges and Dee Winters returning and added Navy man Johnny Hodges to fill out the trio. Safety also added a transfer from Colorado in Mark Perry. Everything is in flux, philosophically and personnel-wise and will probably take real time to fit together.
TCU has no natural Edge rusher now Mathis and Coleman are gone and Horton’s growth to 268 pounds (250 last year) and 2021 film (four sacks) only promise so much in this regard. The Frogs are going to end up having to blitz a lot and play some man coverage on the back end with these corners and the rebuilt safety trio. They may need to blitz to stop the run as well. Combine these factors with Daniel’s shaky health and Hodges-Tomlinson’s 5-foot-9 frame and the Frogs will probably be vulnerable to a potent, downfield passing game or a good spread run game. TCU’s own passing game looks really formidable. Max Duggan stands to benefit greatly from Dykes’ tutelage while Chandler Morris had a very strong few outings last season, including the upset over Baylor where he had over 500 yards of total offense. The biggest factor here is the return of outside receiver Quentin Johnston, who may be the most talented man in the conference and will finally get a chance to show it with a different approach from the coaching staff. The Frogs always have speed in the slot to help and added blue chip freshman Jordan Hudson who might play opposite Johnston.
Contesting Space
The difference is TCU has fewer answers on their roster to solve their problems, the new staff has to find solutions while also revamping the overall program, the D-line lacks size and talent, and there’s not the same level of overall talent.
For their own part, the Jayhawks are pretty good at eliciting the worst from their opponents. You can see the “it’s just Kansas, what’s the big deal?” in opponents’ focus on a regular basis. Most Big 12 teams have had some awful scares against them over the last several years, they’ve just managed to always crawl out of the trap. Everything is changing in 2022. Kansas is finally ready to play respectable football again.
512022 SEASON PREVIEW
bad loss to Iowa State and a public chewing out by Bo Davis (Kansas won 57-56).
Kansas’ new head coach Lance Leipold had a system in Buffalo vaguely similar to the new offense down in Waco. They were pretty run-centric and wanted to be able to approach pro-style offense but set their quarterback up with play-action and they figured out how to run the wide zone play really well and build around it. Coming to Kansas, where the Jayhawks haven’t played well on the offensive line since Mark Mangino left, Leipold and his staff have applied the simple fix of using the transfer portal to transplant what was working in Buffalo. They may start as many as three Buffalo transfers up front, all lankier Midwestern or Northeastern kids they beefed up and developed. They’ll also help them out with multiple tight ends, including walk-on Jared Casey who emerged as the hero in their upset win over Texas and subsequently demonstrated quality in their remaining games in 2021. They added help for star running back Devin Neal with Minnesota transfer Ky Thomas (824 rushing yards in 2021), it’s a legitimately talented and deep running back room. One of the biggest shifts was the insertion of Jalon Daniels at quarterback. He’s a strong athlete with a powerful arm and the ability to work on the move, which made for a great pairing in their play-action/ rollout game working off the base wide zone runs. Defensively the Jayhawks aren’t too imposing up front but they’re at least getting older and stronger with multiple upperclassmen. Linebacker is interesting with the return of Rich Miller and the additions of UCF plugger Eriq Gilyard and Ohio State uber-athlete Craig Young. The latter is expected to play their Sam/nickel linebacker position out in space where his speed (10.7 100m in high school) should translate pretty easily. They also return one of the Big 12’s most reliable tacklers, safety Kenny Logan Jr, who had 110 tackles in 2021.
Matching Up In The Trenches
Contesting Space Not so good here. The Jayhawks will benefit from adding Miami of Ohio’s star Edge Lonnie Phelps, who had 8.5 sacks a year ago in the MAC. Playing Phelps opposite Craig Young will give Kansas more size and athleticism on the perimeters of their defense than we’ve seen in a while from them.
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
Cornerback also made an interesting addition with Michigan State transfer and former blue chip recruit Kalon Gervin joining the unit. Of course, he was available to the Jayhawks for a reason. All of Kansas’ cornerbacks from 2021, which included several young players who took some lumps playing in this 4-3 scheme, are back. Will any of them emerge into good man coverage players? Possibly. Kansas’ receiver corps is the most concerning part of the team. Trevor Wilson and Lawrence Arnold are the returning starters and they had a combined 680 receiving yards a year ago. This team could truly be dangerous to the Big 12 if they had a blazing fast deep threat to get behind defenses for Jalon Daniels on play-action, but there doesn’t appear to be one on hand. Protecting Daniels is also an issue, their tackle play wasn’t very good last year although redshirt senior Earl Bostick may Kenny Logan, Jr. (1)
The defending Big 12 Champion Baylor Bears are the final team on the schedule for Texas in 2022. The Bears come to Austin on November 25th, a Friday with a day’s less rest after the Jayhawk game the week prior. For Texas, although they obviously cannot afford to overlook Kansas, it’s likely they’ll sneak in some Baylor prep when they can. The Bears will be coming off their own revenge game, a home date against rival TCU who defeated them in 2021. This could very well be a Big 12 Championship Game semi-final with the winner advancing to the league title. Whether it is or isn’t, there are a number of advantages for Texas in drawing another league contender so late in the year and at home. As you’ll see, the Bears are plugging in a lot of young players across their skill positions and at quarterback and young players often have to learn how to stay strong and healthy for a full season. Texas is also a team likely to be stronger at the end of the year than the beginning as they nail down which skill players to emphasize and improve on the O-line while potentially adding young reinforcements as they figure out the game.
The new Jayhawk staff is using the transfer portal effectively to get talent from around the Midwest and Northeast into Lawrence. You may scoff at the prospects of such a strategy but it’s a lot better than chasing unproven southern prospects and falling back on plans C or D. They’re already more fundamentally sound and talented than any Kansas team we’ve seen since Charlie Weiss ran the program into the ground. Playing them in Lawrence is generally unpleasant as well. Ultimately, the improved nature of the program and it’s positioning as the second to last game of the year should all serve the Longhorns. They should be playing for a chance at a Big 12 Championship Game berth, the Jayhawks haven’t rebuilt the roster to hold up deep into November, and the challenge of the game combined with the sting of last year should have Texas’ full attention.
522022 SEASON PREVIEW
Texas could have the ability to lean on teams late in the year with an improving line and running back depth.
Facing 40 combined carries from Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson in November could be a tall order for this
Allleague.that said, this is a tough game against a physical team with the strongest looking lines on either side of the ball heading into the season. Matching Up In The Trenches Baylor made a massive leap in 2021 and a good deal of it was powered by wildly improved play on either front. A defensive line which couldn’t really execute Dave Aranda’s preferred 3-down fronts in 2020 became an impenetrable wall at times while an O-line which was one of the worst in the league became one of the best. How’d they do it? Transfers helped. LSU nose tackle Siaki Ika made a difference as huge as his 6-foot-2, 340 pound frame and some younger linemen grew after another offseason in the new system. On offense they nabbed Buffalo interior lineman Jacob Gall from a similar wide zone system and made him their center and added veteran Vanderbilt guard Grant Miller.
2021 RECORD 11-3WEEK 12 2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
finally offer them a league-average left tackle. In Summation
Around them return tight ends Ben Sims (receiver) and Drake Dabney (blocker) and linebacker Dillon Doyle (6-foot-3, 240 pounds, Iowa transfer). There’s a lot of big bodies in the trenches for Baylor who will try to control games with physicality. Replacing the lost explosiveness at linebacker and running back is the main challenge.
Receiver has a number of young up and comers looking to replace Thornton including Auburn transfer Hal Presley (redshirt freshman), Monaray Baldwin (sophomore), and Armani Winfield (freshman).
It’s a pretty reasonable bet they can plug in new stars to work off either line but it’s also going to be hard to match the particular brilliance of Pitre and Bernard, who were both multi-year starters.
532022 SEASON PREVIEW
The main battle in this game will be between Aranda and Sark on the chalkboard. Baylor needs to get pressure on the Longhorns to protect the rebuilt secondary from getting eviscerated by Texas’ receiver talent. Casey Thompson threw for 280 yards in this game and could have thrown for 400 with a few better placed throws or (more importantly) better protection against the Baylor blitz.
Then new offensive coaches Jeff Grimes and Eric Mateos (both from BYU) worked their magic in developing the overall unit, particularly tackles Connor Galvin and Khalil Keith. Virtually every single one of them save for left guard Xavier Newman (not a particularly strong player) all return and the defensive line also added Tulsa star Jaxon Player through the transfer portal to back up Ika. Player is an explosive gap taker who fits in their 3-down scheme like Poona Ford in Todd Orlando’s similar scheme.
Atgame.nickel the Bears seem to be moving Al Walcott, a 219 pound cornerback who ended up starting down the stretch for them, inside to fill the gap. Will he have the same kind of impact as Pitre? Almost definitely not.
Bijan Robinson
While Baylor brings back an abundance of size and quality in the trenches, their skill positions were destroyed by graduation and the draft. Of the seven defensive backs who made up a regular part of their rotation, the NFL claimed three and graduation took another two. Receiver also lost the top three targets in the room, headlined by Tyquan Thornton who ran a 4.28 at the Combine and was drafted in the second round. I think Thornton and Pitre are going to be the two toughest losses, although the overall hit to the secondary’s experience is also a big concern. Pitre was an outstanding blitzer and box player who made a lot of their schemes viable against spread tricks. Even more than viable he made them excellent, Pitre was like a collegiate Troy Polamalu, darting into the box from different angles and perfect timing to blow plays up with regularity. Thornton was a true deep threat who could command attention over the top and make it hard to handle their run
2022 LONGHORN SCHEDULE
At linebacker they lose 31 tackles for loss and 11 sacks from the departures of Mike backer Terrell Bernard and nickel backer Jalen Pitre. At running back they lose 2,400 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns with the exits of Abram Smith and Trestan Ebner.
Texas really had issues controlling Baylor’s linebackers with their tight ends on the edge, a more spread out game could help them move the game from the trenches to the perimeter where the Bears’ are liable to struggle to match their 2021 Championship pace. Or perhaps they can just get big and slowly hammer the Bears with Bijan and Roschon.
Baylor’s rebuilt secondary will probably be in better shape later in the year than early on, but otherwise drawing Texas as the last game and playing them on the road isn’t ideal for the Bears’ title hopes. They have a lot of young, small skill players stepping into feature roles (such as 180-pound running back Sqwirl Williams aiming to replace Abram Smith) and smaller Shapen trying to hold up at quarterback without Bohanon still around to back him up.
Whoever emerges as the most reliable will work with new quarterback Blake Shapen, who ended up Wally Pipping Gerry Bohanon last year. He’s similar to Shane Buechele, at 6-foot-0 and maybe 200 pounds he has a smaller frame but terrific accuracy and the capacity to do a lot of damage if well supported with good receivers and a run game to protect him. The Bears should at least go 1-for-2 there.
Contesting Space
In Summation
Spirit Photo
Texas of The Week
