Texas Football: 3 players that improved the most under Tom Herman

3) Texas football players that improved most under Herman: Charles Omenihu

Definitely the most proficient former Longhorn defender that played under Herman in 2018 was the current Houston Texans second-year defensive end Charles Omenihu. Going from an underrated three-star weak-side defensive end recruit hailing out of Rowlett High School in Rowlett, TX, to the Longhorns brightest star on the defensive side of the ball in 2018 was a massive leap for Omenihu.

As one of the more underrated parts of the Longhorns 2015 recruiting class under Strong, Omenihu ranked as the nation’s No. 430 2015 high school prospect, No. 17 weak-side defensive end, and No. 59 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).

By the time he was a senior with the Longhorns front seven, Omenihu had reached the heights of All-Big 12 First-Team selection, a bona NFL prospect, and the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year award winner. To get all of those honors, he registered 45.0 total tackles to go along with a team-leading 18.0 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, one pass deflection, one fumble recovery, and one forced fumble, during his senior campaign in 2018.

Omenihu was the team’s highest graded defender overall in 2018. And he was the highest-graded pass rusher in both of Herman’s first two years at the helm, in 2017 and 2018. Omenihu got 22 quarterback hurries, eight quarterback knockdowns, and just eight missed tackles (compared to 45 combined tackles) in 2018. He was truly the breakthrough Longhorns defensive player of that season.