Texas Football: PFF ranks Ta’Quon Graham among best Big 12 edge rushers

Pro Football Focus is high on what Texas football rising senior defensive end Ta’Quon Graham brings to the table for the pass rush in 2020.

If the Texas football program is to really improve under recently hired defensive coordinator Chris Ash on the side of the ball that they struggled so mightily least season, then it will need to come with a big push from the front seven. Texas didn’t have its usual strength last year in the front seven that they did in the previous seasons under former defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.

That is part of the reason why head coach Tom Herman parted ways with Orlando, and so many of his other coaches on staff with the Texas Longhorns football program at the conclusion of the 2019 regular season. Herman parted ways with a number of his positional coaches on both sides of the ball too.

We’ll see if that’s able to have a profound impact on the Longhorns defense as a whole this coming season.

However, the Longhorns do have a bevy of experience and production coming back from last year’s team. This defense is going to need as much help as it can get in a Big 12 that will be getting better in terms of skill position firepower across the board this year.

In the trenches, Texas do have a handful of players who could finally breakout this season. Among those is third-year defensive tackle Keondre Coburn and rising senior defensive end Ta’Quon Graham. On their Twitter timeline on May 8, Pro Football Focus actually ranked out the highest graded returning edge rushers in the Big 12 for 2020. And Graham ranked among the top three.

At the top of the list of highest graded returning edge rushers in the Big 12 was Kansas State’s Wyatt Hubert. That does make sense since Hubert registered 12.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks during his sophomore campaign.

Graham ranked second on this list of three edge rusher. He registered 29 total tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks during his junior campaign.

And to round out the list was Oklahoma’s rising junior Ronnie Perkins. Last season, Perkins registered 13.5 tackles for loss and six sacks.

Moreover, as far as the Longhorns pass rush goes, Graham is going to need to step up to the plate alongside Coburn and fellow defensive end Moro Ojomo. Star linebacker Joseph Ossai can’t do it all, and Charles Omenihu is long gone.

Throughout the entirety of his three years with Texas, Graham registered 47 total tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, and four sacks. The 6-foot-3 and 300 pound former four-star recruit should have his most productive season in college in 2020.