Steve Sarkisian Praises Longhorns Defense for 'Playing As A Unit'

With a new season approaching, Sarkisian discussed how the defense has improved in fall camp.

A lot of things went wrong for the Texas Longhorns in their first year under coach Steve Sarkisian, resulting in an ugly 5-7 record. 

Now, as the Longhorns look to rebound in Sarkisian's second year at the helm, improvement across the board on the defensive side of the ball will be paramount to their success. 

Last season the Longhorns were, simply put, not good on defense. They allowed opponents to score 31.1 points per game, good for 99th out of 130 FBS teams. The Longhorns' defense also gave up 426.4 yards of total offense per game. 

However, as fall camp has gone on and the season approaches, players on the defensive side of the ball have spoken about cohesion between them. Sarkisian has seen that same cohesion and believes it'll be instrumental for an improved defense in 2022. 

"I feel like we're playing as one. We aren't playing as 11 individuals," Sarkisian said. "There's been really good communication."

"The front guys have started that. We've got great leadership there, obviously, with Moro (Ojomo), (Keondre) Coburn and (T'Vondre) Sweat. Guys who have been there and now the emergence of Byron Murphy and Vernon Broughton." 

While football is won in the trenches, and the Longhorns have talent across the defensive line, if the linebackers and secondary can't do their job, it won't matter.

"It's kind of matriculated its way into the back end," Sarkisian said. 

In the defensive backfield, it will be a mixture of new and old faces for the Longhorns, with Longhorn veterans such as defensive back Anthony Cook welcoming fresh faces like Ohio State transfer cornerback Ryan Watts. 

Despite the mix of old and new, though, Sarkisian believes the defense has learned to play well together throughout camp. 

"I definitely feel them playing as a unit," Sarkisian said. "That's why we're flying to the ball better and creating more turnovers. Things that were important to me, they've taken that to heart."

"It's not about one guy, they're all doing it together."

While the Texas offense will likely put up gaudy numbers, it will all be pointless if the defense doesn't improve. However, with the talent across the board on that side of the ball, as well as the cohesion being shown, there could be a definite improvement from where they were in 2021.

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You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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