Meet the Cast – Texas Longhorn Defense

from headliners to understudies, a guide to the UT Longhorn defense and speculation in regard to their performance against Oklahoma State

One of my favorite aspects about this year’s edition of the Longhorns is the atmosphere of selflessness and chemistry that their upperclassmen leadership has fostered. While clearly intangible and statistically untrackable, this season has acted as evidence that team chemistry truly can be the difference between “a year away” and undisputed midseason number one. So far, this atmosphere has taken care of what is perhaps the most difficult part of playing four top 11 teams in a row: mental drain on the players. To compete at such a level requires teams to attain an elevated level of consciousness and mental acuity that is nearly impossible to force players to reach more than one week in a row. That is, unless a team’s mentality makes it as natural as working out or stretching before a game.

In light of this team’s social dynamic, to focus on Colt McCoy’s resurgence to the point that it eclipses the other great strides this team has made is something of an analytical travesty. I’m not going say outright that the media needs to broaden the scope of its Longhorns praise but let’s just consider this my personal effort to spread the love around. The Longhorn defense has stood out to separate this team from the rest of a conference where half of the offenses are amongst the top 13 most productive nationally. This group of players is charged with the unenviable task of stopping the spread offense in the Big 12. After the season ends, there are only two teams in the top six in scoring offense that they won’t have played (themselves and Tulsa so actually only one if you count the spring game as a game). So without further ado, I present to you the defensive cast you will see try to put on a show once again in Austin this Saturday:

Defensive Line:

This unit may be an even bigger strength than the quarterback position for the Longhorns this season. Personally this is my favorite part of the team. Their pass rush has been the lynchpin of the Horns success in that their ability to pressure the quarterback with only four men has allowed the defense to force the quarterback into difficult throws against a back seven that is entirely dropped back into coverage, all while allowing under 50 rush yards per game and 2 yards per carry. Kendall Hunter and Zac Robinson will present a test to their containment ability that is unparalleled by any other team on their schedule.

Starters:

Brian Orakpo needs no introduction. Arguably the nation’s premier defensive end, he is a physical freak whose pass rushing style is tenacious yet disciplined. Simply trying to stay in front of him is impossible (as evidenced by the Loadholt Holdfest (say that three times fast)) and he is rarely caught out of position on screens and shovel passes. I’m usually hesitant to say this but I think what he will do against the Cowboys is a foregone conclusion.

Lamarr Houston seems to have worked his way back into the starting lineup after a legal indiscretion in week 2. He presents a unique challenge to offensive lines in that he probably the fastest tackle they will see all season. If there was anyone else on the team that could play his position, he would be starting at end on the other side of Orakpo. He may need to showcase his strength this weekend if OSU tries to run downhill against him.

Roy Miller is a load. It’s that simple. The only reason he isn’t the undisputed top nose tackle in the Big 12 is because of the talent at Oklahoma. Regardless, no Big 12 DT is distinguishably better than him. His game can basically be summed up by what happened on the first reverse that Mizzou tried to run (dragging two offensive linemen into the backfield to tackle Maclin for a six yard loss). He’ll need to provide the muscle this weekend if OSU tries to execute a power game.

Henry Melton is a converted running back who has worked his way up the defensive end depth chart over the years to finally start this season. To call his progression impressive going into this season would be an understatement. This will be the greatest test of his career stopping the run. He has my confidence so here’s hoping he steps up to the challenge.

Key Reserves: Aaron Lewis is actually costarter at tackle. An experienced and consistent defensive end, he faces much the same challenge as Houston. Sam Acho is an upstart end who took great strides in the offseason and has a potential to build on his solid play so far this season into major disruptive force later in his career. Eddie Jones was a prized recruit at defensive end. I’m waiting for him to have a Kindle-like breakout. Note: I’ll cover Kindle below because he is technically not a lineman but he does play end in certain nickel packages.

Linebackers

Lots of natural talent and physical ability here. The loss of several starters has actually made this group better because of the talent that they are now forced to put on the field (why it was not there in the first place I have no idea). This group is successfully making plays all over the field. As a group we’ll see how they do in run support this week because pass coverage has been their focus (outside of Kindle) this year.

Roddrick Muckleroy is having a breakout season now that they’re finally starting him. Great sideline to sideline speed and also one of the defense’s best tacklers. If he displays any shred of the awareness he shows in the passing game he should do somewhere between well and outstanding stopping the run on Saturday.

Jared Norton has impressed me especially as a blitzer. He won the starting job in at MLB for the bowl game last season and has continued to play well. I seem to notice him in the backfield a great deal for a player who isn’t often called on to blitz. He’ll have to use that same hole finding ability to plug up the ones that OSU will try to create for Kendall Hunter this weekend.

Sergio Kindle is an anomaly. I mean that in the sense that he does not play a typical linebacker role but also in the sense that the machines call Neo “the anomaly” in the Matrix because he kicks a monstrous amount of (wait, this is my first article, am I allowed to reveal what he kicks a monstrous amount of on B/R? oh well I’ll just stop here to be on the safe side). To say that he is unblockable is like saying Yao Ming is fairly tall. I’m hoping run blocking has the same effect on him (or lack thereof).

Key Reserves: Rashad Bobino is costarter at MLB and a leader of the defense. His experience and field awareness should help him a great deal against OSU’s balance. Keenan Robinson has impressed in a big way so far in his short career. He is probably too young to be a difference maker yet but there should be very little dropoff when he comes into the game.

Secondary

These guys probably take more abuse than they deserve. Yes, statistically they are among the top ten worst pass defenses in the nation. However, a big reason for this is that passing is usually around three quarters of the other team’s offensive game plan both because of their inherent strengths and because they are empirically not getting rushing production because of the defensive line (did I mention I like those guys?). They have been doing a good job producing interceptions and have actually created several coverage sacks against very strong passing teams.

Ryan Palmer is the senior leader of the secondary. He has probably been the most consistent corner so far this season and seems to have the most varied skill set. He has been effective in coverage at the very least and has been known to blitz with positive results, too.

Chykie (Shocky like the coffee maker in How I Met Your Mother) Brown fought his way up into a starting spot between this year and last year.  He has had some impressive breakups against great receivers so far this season but has picked up a few interference calls too. All in all I like his aggressiveness in coverage and forgive him for the occasional mistake against the likes of a Juaqin Iglesias or Jeremy Maclin.

Blake Gideon has been the most consistent safety on the team this year. This is impressive given his experience yet unimpressive given how inconsistent the other safeties are. He has definitely been better than what we expecting at safety at the end of last season and has made substantive headway in shoring up a perceived weakness on the defense.

Earl Thomas definitely has the ballhawking attitude to be a safety. He garnered a great deal of hype in the preseason,  disappointed in the first couple of games but has been improving weekly, turning in much stronger performances against OU and Mizzou. He will still make mistakes because of his aggressiveness but his awareness is increasing with each game to complement it. I initially had questions about his tackling ability but I think those issues are mostly cleared up.

Key Reserves: Deon Beasley is Chykie Brown’s costarter. He entered camp as one of the top two cornerbacks on the team but it hasn’t seemed like he has improved like everyone else. Aaron Williams is playing very well as a freshmen with one pick six already. Watch out for his propensity to break the big play. Note: Duck and cover if any other safeties come in because Robinson should make it rain. These guys are getting seriously torched. I think it was poor Ben Wells who got an enormous earful from Coach Boom last weekend. Muschamp was so mad that I would have felt sorry for Wells if he hadn’t just let up a touchdown.

Sorry if you are UT fan and you watch all the games and therefore didn’t learn anything after reading all that. I was mostly hoping to present our defense to fans from other teams and perhaps set their expectations a little for this weekend, while giving them some background info to work off of.  I hope everyone enjoys the game Saturday (except Cowboy fans of course).