One Texas player who went from weak link to wrecking ball in week 2

Texas right tackle Brandon Baker had a very bad game in week one against Ohio State, and not just because of how "good" the Buckeyes' defensive line was. He had trouble with some of the fundamental aspects of playing offensive tackle such as blitz recognition, block sustainment, and overall technique.

He also had a bad habit of undersetting in week one, which allowed Ohio State's pass rushers to easily take the corner and run around him.

About 90% of those issues were seemingly fixed against San Jose State.

It's easy to see that he and OL Coach Kyle Flood worked together throughout this past week to get those issues solved, as it was immediately noticeable how improved he was with both his pass sets and hand placement on Saturday. He was consistently able to dominate the Spartans' pass rushers with his strikes and body control throughout the entirety of the game.

It looked like he had trouble with lateral movement as well against OSU but it turns out that he was just not setting wide enough for some reason, as he was fine in that aspect in week 2.

As shown in this clip, Baker's a very intentional mover when he's engaged with defenders. He's able to lock on to the player with his strong hands and then dictate their movement throughout the snap with his strong core.

He still needs to work on his overall foot and recovery speed against speed rushers at the point of attack, though. There were a few plays where pass rushers were able to influence him into stepping inside and then shooting out and around him on the corner. Luckily he was able to wall them off, but that will doom him against better competition in 2025.

Though Texas is playing another inferior team next week in UTEP, South Carolina State All-American edge rusher Ashaad Hall transferred into the Miners program this offseason. The 6'4", 240-pound defensive end should give Baker better competition in week 3 than what he faced on Saturday.