Texas Football: 5 overreactions from Longhorns non-conference slate

4. Joseph Ossai is a star in the making

Since the value he brings to the table for the Texas football program hasn’t been highlighted enough since the start of the regular season, I wanted to throw in how good sophomore linebacker Joe Ossai was so far. This Longhorns defense wouldn’t be where it is now without the awesome efforts of Ossai through three games.

In his past six games played, Ossai has 29 total tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 1 forced fumble. Ossai took the void the Longhorns had at linebacker and plugged it immediately. The combination of senior linebacker Jeffrey McCulloch and Ossai helps Texas fans forget about the departures they had at linebacker during the offseason.

Ossai didn’t play much during his freshman season given his talent level. But that talent is shining through now. He had an interception in each of his first two starts of the 2019 campaign. Texas needs players like this to emerge on both sides of the ball given all the young talent present on this roster.

The value that Ossai brings wasn’t supposed to be defending the pass, but he’s showing that he’s as versatile as they come. Wondering what the next level is for Ossai, with the leap he took during the offseason, is limitless. But Ossai needs to come up big again for the Longhorns in the early portion of the Big 12 slate.