Steve Sarkisian’s success at Texas will be heavily influenced on how the defensive unit performs.
After a thorough search, Sarkisian hired former Washington defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski for the same role at Texas. No matter what you want to call Kwiatkowski’s base defensive scheme, the only two true defensive linemen are going to be defensive tackles. Their goal is to fill as much space as possible on the line of scrimmage.
In that sense, neither defensive tackle position has changed from the pre-spring depth chart to the mid-spring depth chart. Keondre Coburn and Alfred Collins are heavily favored to remain the starters.
However, changes appear at linebacker and safety. Juwan Mitchell chose to enter the NCAA transfer portal, which left a golden opportunity for David Gbenda and Jaylan Ford to compete for a starting role. The position switch from wide receiver to safety has appeared to work out in Brenden Schooler’s favor. He now has a great chance to compete for meaningful snaps at free safety.
Leading up to the season opener in September, Longhorns Wire will project what the depth chart could look like for Texas. These will often change over the weeks due to transfer players, injuries, or a variety of other reasons.
Here’s our mid-spring defensive depth chart.