Texas Football: 3 problematic Razorbacks players for the Longhorns

Jalen Catalon, S

You can’t help but be impressed by what the former blue-chip recruit and redshirt sophomore Jalen Catalon brings to the table for Arkansas. A former Texas target on the recruiting trail, Arkansas got a lot out of Catalon in the past couple of seasons.

The counting stats are impressive for Catalon. He’s registered more than 115 career combined tackles during his sophomore campaign already, along with three tackles for loss, five interceptions (one of which was returned for a touchdown), five pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery.

Just one look at the box score stats for Catalon shows just how valuable he can be for the Hogs. And then, you can really see the broad and situational value when you look at some more of the granular numbers for Catalon. For instance, he was the highest-graded defensive player for Arkansas last season.

Catalon also only allowed one passing touchdown for roughly every four pass breakups and interceptions combined last season in coverage assignments. It’s dangerous to look his way given how many plays he can make for Arkansas on the back end.

More often than not, Catalon lines up as the free safety for Arkansas. In a defense that likes to run a three-high safety set under defensive coordinator Barry Odom, Catalon is a key cog in that group. He also lines up on about 30 percent of snaps on defense either as essentially a slot corner or in the box.

Catalon is very good in pass coverage. He doesn’t let many plays get behind him, and he doesn’t miss many tackles. Given the number of combined tackles he has in his career, the fact that he’s missed less than 15 tackles in his time in Fayetteville is really solid.