Texas Football: Keondre Coburn putting on some serious size

Redshirt sophomore Texas football defensive tackle Keondre Coburn did put on some size during quarantine, and is working to get back down to game weight.

Staying in shape was the least of a lot of people’s problems in the last few months as the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on around the globe. But as it pertains to the Texas football program, it is something that a lot of players will have to fix (and quickly) heading into the 2020 regular season. Texas is not all that far away from having their season opener.

It sounds like the 2020 regular season opener for the Longhorns will kickoff on Sep. 12 against the UTEP Miners at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas should then have their Big 12 opener on Sep. 26, which has yet to be officially decided if that’s the set in stone date and which opponent it will be.

Given that the 2020 season should start in a little over one month from now, the Longhorns will really have to prepare quick for the fall ahead. They are about to start fall/training camp on a shortened calendar. It was just a little under two months ago that they got back to campus to get initially tested for COVID-19 and prepare for voluntary summer workouts in the first place.

But now Texas is getting ready likely for more contact drills and fall practice that is closer to game situations. And that is going to be pivotal for the Longhorns. One particular Longhorns defensive player that needs to continue to get his body ready for the looming 2020 season as training camp is just around the corner is rising redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Keondre Coburn.

Texas reportedly (thanks to Horns247, paid content) saw Coburn come to camp and mandatory summer workouts at around 360 pounds. And the 2020 Texas official roster listed him just shy of 350 pounds. Apparently the coaching staff wants him to be back around 320 pounds by the start of the 2020 season.

That is a long way to go for one of the most sizable and important defensive lineman that Texas has in the mix this year. Last season, Coburn really started to rise to the occasion and make the impact that so many knew he could.

The former highly touted four-star recruit registered 24 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, and one forced fumble last season. During his true freshman campaign, Coburn only had some level of production in two games, and registered two total tackles.

This is notable news that the Longhorns are having to see such a sizable body change for their projected starting defensive tackle. And apparently Coburn wasn’t the only one that came back to campus a bit overweight. Wide receiver Al’Vonte Woodard apparently showed back up to campus about 15 pounds overweight compared to where he was playing at last season.

Texas brought in former Rutgers head coach Chris Ash to replace Todd Orlando as the next defensive coordinator for the coming season. And they also brought in Mark Hagen to be the defensive line coach and associate head coach for the defense.