Texas Football: 3 struggling players who must be benched

Jacoby Jones, EDGE/DE

Another defensive player for the Longhorns that is suffering from the missed tackle bug early this season is the former Oklahoma commit and senior defensive end/edge rusher Jacoby Jones. And it’s not just missed tackles that are causing the ineffective start for Jones so far this season.

Jones’ main role in this defensive is to generate some pressure off the edge. He’s not the best defensive end in run defense, but we knew that heading into this season. But his performance in the pass rush was mostly a letdown so far.

Although Jones does have six quarterback hurries on the season, it’s not great that he doesn’t have any sacks or quarterback hits. In fact, Jones is one of 26 defensive ends/edge rushers in the FBS this season that doesn’t have a single quarterback hit or sack when on the field for at least 60 snaps in the pass rush.

That’s not really company that you ever want to be in. Texas has some more effective pass rushers to use coming off the edge than Jones was through four games. In limited snaps this season, the trio of Ben Davis, Alfred Collins, and Ovie Oghoufo, were all more effective in the pass rush than Jones. Kwiatkowski has other experienced options to roll with instead of Jones off the edge.

The strong push that Jones can bring to the table off the edge in rushing the passer looked to be a potent factor in this new defensive scheme under Pete Kwiatkowski this fall. But he was anything but that for the Longhorns through four games.