Three pressing Texas offseason issues we still need clarity on

Texas Football is on a high right now. Pretty much everyone who covers the team closely is optimistic about UT’s upcoming season. Recently IT has shared the coaches believe they have the talent to win it all. Former Sark player, Tope Imade, someone who reminds me of our very own Drew Kelson with his thoughtfulness, is clearly a believer. Interestingly, Imade’s only year was 5-7 and yet he’s fully bought in. That’s because he saw the process firsthand even if the results didn’t follow.

But there are no perfect teams or teams without preseason questions. There’s simply too much turnover in college football. At Texas, much of the turnover we’ve seen during Sark’s time is centered around players rather than coaches but Texas goes into this season with two new coaches up the middle as Kenny Baker replaced Bo Davis and Johnny Nansen did the same for Jeff Choate.

Marrying the three levels of defense

Pete Kwiatkowski has a lot of parts to work with on defense. I’d posit more than he’s ever had even with the losses of T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy. Texas is two-deep everywhere and sometimes even three-deep. Defensive experience should be a major positive for PK and his coaches as they look to construct the 2024 defensive identity. 

That identity will certainly look different than last year when the Horns routinely played the run without extra defenders. This year we’ll see more safety involvement which could expose the secondary to big pass plays.

Along with that deep bench comes the penchant for PK to rotate excessively. Yes, most of the players are experienced, but experience is much more than an individual pursuit. You need unit cohesion. The five in the secondary must be on the same page with each other but also the linebackers. The linebackers must be synced to the secondary and the defensive front. 

Perhaps the new coaches will offer an assist in this regard. Nansen’s experience as a successful coordinator should help Texas problem solve the pass defense. Having a reliable pass rush should help as well.

By the middle of August I’m hoping we at IT have a good idea of how this defense will look and perform this season. 

I will reiterate, the men in charge of designing this defense are confident they’ll put together a strong group. 

Red Zone Efficiency 

I’ll air this concern for those who have it. I don’t have a concern with red zone efficiency for this season. I feel like last year’s cold spell was due more to bad luck and Sark getting in a play calling slump than anything else. 

Has he had concerns in this regard in prior years? This is a modified version of “PK forgetting how to coach” in his first year at Texas. It just doesn’t make sense.

Texas should have its best run game yet with the mature offensive line, a senior tight end who isn’t afraid to mix it up, and an explosive stable of running backs. I’m a believer in CJ Baxter’s ability to get tough yards despite him struggling in that regard as a true freshman and Jaydon Blue can also run with some pop.

The passing game might not benefit from having Adonai Mitchell‘s length, outside of Ryan Wingo, but the group has tremendous short area explosion which will help them get open in close quarters. 

And then of course you have Quinn Ewers in his third year. Ewers should be able to get Texas in the ideal play call when he has the freedom to do so.

I’d love to see a renewed focus to targeting the tight end in the red zone. Ja’Tavion Sanders only having two touchdowns last season was shocking. 

The Damn Deep Ball

Ewers is positively effortless in the short and intermediate passing game but thus far in his career the consistent deep ball has evaded him. He has improved, with the moon ball touchdown in Tuscaloosa to Xavier Worthy one of last season’s highlights. 

For Texas to take the next step and win it all, Ewers will need to find a higher success rate down the field and take advantage of all the speed flanking him. If he takes another step in this regard the entire offense will hit another gear. The deep ball creates a virtuous circle with the run game.

I like that all three receivers will be vertical threats this season. You can throw Amari Niblack in there as well at tight end. 

Sark is going to call the touchdown play a lot this season. It’ll be up to Ewers to make him right.

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