Texas Football: Anthony Cook giving secondary a spark in spring ball

Within the past 10 days, new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program had to find their rhythm in spring camp, and fast. Texas has less than two weeks until the spring football game is set to kickoff. With the implementation of new schemes on both sides of the ball and a lot of new faces needing to step up in bigger roles on this roster, spring camp is crucial for Texas this offseason.

Sark and the Longhorns will take to the field at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on April 24 at 1 p.m. CT for the Orange-White Game. That will be the first time that the Longhorns take to the field at DKR in front of the burnt orange faithful for some form of game action since last November.

At this point of spring ball, the Longhorns have been through multiple rounds of full pads practices and scrimmages. The spring camp scrimmages can be an underrated point of the offseason in which players can get important reps that will help this new-look coaching staff configure the depth chart.

And one player that is reportedly (per Horns247 report over the weekend, paid content) stuck out for Sark and the Longhorns in the most recent spring scrimmage was senior defensive back Anthony Cook. The former talented four-star recruit and fourth-year defensive back Cook had an inconsistent run on the Forty Acres through his college career to date.

Importance of Anthony Cook to the Texas football secondary

In the latest spring scrimmage, Cook reportedly looked like a more sure-tackler and had multiple pass breakups. Missing tackles was a big knock on Cook throughout his three years with Texas thus far. And improving in pass coverage is also a key point to Cook’s development in the near future.

Potentially competing for playing time at either the SPUR position or at safety, Cook could be a versatile piece for new defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and defensive backs coach Terry Joseph this year. Considering Texas did sustain some pretty heavy losses in the defensive backfield this offseason, having Cook rise to the occasion could be critical.

In his three years playing for Texas to date, Cook registered 60 combined tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, no picks, three pass breakups, and one forced fumble. Last year, he played in eight games for the Longhorns while registering 18 combined tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Cook has nearly a dozen missed tackles in his career to date, which is a good amount compared to his 60 combined tackles. Lowering that missed tackle percentage will be a big point of emphasis if he is to get an elevated role in the secondary this year.

Texas finished up the 2020 season with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) under the direction of former head coach Tom Herman. Back on Jan. 2, Sark replaced Herman as Texas head coach after four years at the helm.