4 overreactions from Texas football’s gritty win over UTSA
Ryan Watts is the weak link in the secondary heading into Big 12 play
The singular negative thought/overreaction that I have coming out of this game concerning one player has to do with redshirt sophomore cornerback Ryan Watts. On a night when senior cornerback D’Shawn Jamison and junior nickel Jahdae Barron looked so good, it was a bit disappointing to see Watts have an up-and-down showing in pass coverage.
Most of what I had to say concerning Watts was pretty positive coming out of the Alabama game last weekend. And while ULM wasn’t the best test for him, Watts was still steady in his Texas debut when the Horns downed the Warhawks in the opener on Sep. 3.
But the fact of the matter is that Watts was definitely one of the weak links for Texas in this win over UTSA. He finished up this game as the lowest-graded defensive back in coverage among Texas’ starters. Watts allowed four catches on five attempts that went his way in this game, good for 55 yards and one touchdown catch.
The play that is going to overshadow any of the positives that Watts put on display this weekend was when he was beaten deep on the trick play that went for a 35-yard touchdown to wide receiver Zakhari Franklin. Watts didn’t make the necessary adjustments to play the ball when it was in the air, resulting in the touchdown catch for Franklin.
We also have to mention that Watts didn’t look like his usual self in short-yardage situations in this one. Watts allowed three first downs in pass coverage assignments, the worst in any outing of his collegiate career to date. Two of those three first downs came on passing plays of less than 10 yards where Watts was playing soft coverage off the line of scrimmage, which I have to say might be a fault more on co-DC/LB coach Pete Kwiatkowski than it is on the third-year corner.
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It might take Watts a little while longer to get adjusted to this defensive scheme in his first year in the system with PK and the Longhorns. But Texas will need Watts to be better in pass coverage opposite of the field corner Jamison than he was against UTSA this weekend. He’ll be matched up next weekend against Texas Tech’s starting x-wide receiver Loic Fouonji.
Fouonji stands at 6-foot-4 and gave Texas some issues last season when he posted 78 receiving yards on two catches, with one receiving touchdown.