Texas Football: ESPN tabs Joe Ossai Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year
ESPN tabbed rising junior standout Texas football linebacker Joe Ossai for Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year this season.
A key to success at any level of the Texas football defense this year is going to be maintaining consistency throughout Big 12 play. In the last few years, the Texas defense looked pretty good at different points of each season, but there was usually a stretch of at least three games in the Big 12 slate where they got thoroughly torched.
But that is largely why the Longhorns elected to part ways with former defensive coordinator Todd Orlando (now on staff in the same role with the USC Trojans) at the conclusion of the 2019 regular season. Head coach Tom Herman was able to replace Orlando with former Rutgers head coach Chris Ash as the next Texas defensive coordinator. He turned over much of the rest of his assistant coaching staff and coordinators throughout the offseason too.
What should also help the Longhorns case on defense this season is all of the returning starters at multiple levels from last year’s team. And the most notable of those returning starters on the defensive side of the ball this year are junior safety Caden Sterns, junior cornerback D’shawn Jamison, and junior linebacker Joe Ossai, among others.
One national media outlet had high expectations for what Ossai will bring to the table for the Longhorns this fall. In their preview and predictions for the 2020 college football season, ESPN mentioned Ossai as their pick for Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. That piece also had a Longhorn as the pick for the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year, true freshman defensive lineman Alfred Collins.
Last year, Ossai was one of the most productive Longhorns on either side of the ball. He registered a team-leading 13.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, two interceptions, and one forced fumble. The sky should really be the limit for Ossai this fall.
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Ossai and the Longhorns are set to open their 2020 season on Sep. 12 at home, with kick off at 7 p.m. CT, against the UTEP Miners out of Conference-USA. The Big 12 slate opens up for Texas on Sep. 26 on the road against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.