Texas Football: 5 early top Longhorns for the 2022 NFL Draft
Keondre Coburn, DT
Among former Longhorns, there was a strong class this year in terms of talent going to the next level along the front seven. Texas had their second-highest selection in the 2021 draft land in the AFC North with the Bengals, with Ossai going to Cincy. And former standout senior Longhorns defensive end and talented four-star recruit Ta’Quon Graham getting picked up by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth-round.
Next year once again has the potential to be a strong draft class coming off of the Forty Acres for positions along the front seven. Although, a lot of that depends on how this side of the ball develops schematically and statistically this fall under the direction of new co-defensive coordinators Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate.
One particular name to watch along the front seven for the Longhorns that could anchor a defensive line at the next level is the former four-star recruit and redshirt junior defensive tackle Keondre Coburn. At 6-foot-2 and 350 pounds, and with a solid motor off of the line of scrimmage, and frame and overall physical tools are clearly there for Coburn.
Staying healthy will be a main task at hand for Coburn this fall as he looks to get a rise in his draft stock. The proven production was there when healthy for Coburn in the last few years, though. He’s got 51 career combined tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks, two pass breakups, and one forced fumble, in less than 20 career games played in three years on the Forty Acres.
More good news for Coburn is that he is a sure-tackler to anchor the line (roughly an 8.0 missed tackle percentage in the last three years). Having 30 career stops and nearly 30 quarterback pressures under his belt for his career in less than 900 snaps played presents the efficiency and overall production of Coburn when on the field.
I like Coburn to fall in the middle rounds of the 2022 draft, given a fully healthy 2021 campaign and he decides to take his talents to the next level come next offseason.