Texas Football: Alfred Collins quietly making a big impact of late

A long bye week for new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program is about to come to an end with a key road meeting looming for Halloweekend. Texas needs a bounce-back outing following two straight bad collapses at the hands of the two Oklahoma schools in the Big 12. This squad is set to take on the improving Baylor Bears and head coach Dave Aranda on the road in Waco on Oct. 30.

As Sark and the Longhorns get set to face Baylor this coming weekend, there are a few key players that could come to the forefront in the second half of the season. One player that dramatically improved for the Longhorns in the last three or four games, that otherwise got a slow start this fall, is the former five-star recruit and sophomore defensive end/edge rusher, Alfred Collins.

Really since the finale of the non-conference schedule this season, Collins took his game to a new level. It took him a few games to get adjusted to this new scheme under new co-defensive coordinators/linebackers coaches Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate this year, but he looks to be in a good spot at the moment.

Alfred Collins continues to improve for Texas football this fall

Since the win over the Rice Owls in the final game of the non-conference slate last month, Collins has registered 10 combined tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks, just one missed tackle, 10 stops, three run stuffs, 11 quarterback hurries, and four QB hits.

That has allowed Collins to put up a disruption rate (any turnovers drawn, batted balls, or quarterback pressures, in the pass rush) of 13.1 percent since the win over Rice. Over that span, that is good for second-best on the team.

Over that same span of time, Collins has a win percentage of 13.0 in pass-rush snaps. That is good for second-best on the team behind fellow edge rusher Jacoby Jones. But Jones could miss most of the rest of the season dealing with an injury, so Collins is the most effective pass rusher that is still active for the Longhorns coming out of the bye week.

In true pass sets since the Rice win, Collins was insanely effective. In that span of weeks, Collins leads the Longhorns in pass-rushing productivity in true pass sets, with an effective rate of 22.9 percent. That essentially means that in true pass sets since the Rice win, Collins is able to get at least a quarterback pressure 22.9 percent of the time.

That number is also good for top 10 in the FBS since Week 3.

As Texas has struggled for the most part to generate pass rush and stop the run in the second half in the last few games, Collins’ bringing this type of presence to the table is huge. He needs to continue to step up his play in the pass rush and run defense for this front to really improve in the second half of the season.

Collins continues to make strides this fall in rushing the passer and run defense. He had a season-high five stops and two run stuffs in Texas’ tough loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys two weekends ago.

Texas needs Collins to come up big if they want to slow down a potent Baylor offense led by breakout quarterback Gerry Bohanan and the standout running back duo of Trestan Ebner and Abram Smith.

Coming out of the bye week, Texas boasts a record of 4-3 (2-2 Big 12) after the 32-24 loss at home to Oklahoma State back on Oct. 16. Texas will take on Baylor on the road at McLane Stadium on Oct. 30, with kickoff time set for 11 a.m. CT.