Texas Football: 3 players showing needed improvement in spring camp

Anthony Cook, DB

Texas did a nice job of constructing a formidable, but unique in comparison to the rest of the Big 12 staffs, set of defensive coaches around Sark earlier this offseason. Sark and the Longhorns hired the likes of former Washington Huskies co-defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, Montana State Bobcats head coach Jeff Choate, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive backs coach Terry Joseph, to head up this defensive coaching staff on the Forty Acres.

One player that this staff will hopefully help improve this offseason, especially in spring ball, is senior defensive back and former highly coveted four-star recruit Anthony Cook. Likely to compete for snaps at either the SPUR position or one of the safety spots this year, Cook is going to be a big part of the secondary depth chart.

The problem that Cook encountered in his prior three years playing for Texas was a number of inconsistencies that plagued his defensive game. He missed a lot of open-field tackles in the past and got beat deep on plays where he should’ve been able to maintain his position. Cook has missed roughly a dozen tackles in his college career, compared to 60 combined tackles.

The good news for the defensive coaching staff for the Longhorns in spring ball is that Cook has apparently showed waves of improvement in his pass defending and open-field tackling. It’s not the same in full pads scrimmages in spring camp that it will become this fall, but it’s a good sign that Cook is showing improvement in both of those areas of his game.