Texas Football: 3 overreactions from the deficient loss to WVU

There is hope for this defense… but not too much

In terms of points allowed in this game, the Longhorns weren’t terrible. But giving up 31 points to a West Virginia offense that had struggled mightily throughout much of their recent Big 12 schedule isn’t a great look. And the frustrations are starting to boil over with new co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Pete Kwiatkowski.

Texas showed in the last few games that there are likely going to be some major changes coming on the defensive side of the ball next offseason. And the particular level of the defense that is likely to have the largest number of changes is in the secondary.

One of the few bright spots for this defense of late is the former four-star Baylor Bears commit and sophomore cornerback Jahdae Barron. For the second time this season, Barron was the highest-graded defensive player in a game for the Longhorns.

This was actually a pretty good game for Barron. He was targeted six times in pass coverage assignments, which resulted in only two catches for three yards, with two pass breakups. He also didn’t have any missed tackles, four combined tackles, and one quarterback hit.

Another positive in this game for the Longhorns defense was freshman defensive lineman Byron Murphy II. While Murphy didn’t have his best outing of the season in the loss to Kansas last weekend, he did bounce back nicely in this loss to West Virginia. He registered two quarterback pressures, one QB hit, two combined tackles, no missed tackles, and one stop in this game.

Barron and Murphy are two good, but rare, examples of players that can actually give this Texas defense hope as far as the personnel on the current roster are concerned.