3 recent reclamation projects for Texas that didn't pan out

Ben Davis, EDGE

In 2021, Sarkisian and the Longhorns were in the process of turning over the roster amid the early stages of the rebuild for this program regarding its locker room culture and depth (or lack thereof) on the two-deep. EDGE was one of those important positions the Longhorns needed to bolster the confidence in the position room for the defensive front.

Entering the 2021 season, Texas didn't have much proven experience at the EDGE position, which is why they had to add numbers from SEC programs in the portal with guys like Notre Dame transfer Ovie Oghoufo and Alabama transfer Ben Davis.

Texas's EDGE room has come leaps and bounds since Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski first took over the Longhorns' program four years ago. Just a few years ago, though, Davis was Texas's leader in sacks while the team posted the lowest single-season sack total in over two decades in Sark and PKs first year at the helm during 2021.

Davis was more of an example of how far the Texas program has come since Sarkisian and staff were trying to move the locker room culture and cohesion forward during a five-win campaign in the Big 12. While Davis was a meaningful contributor for Texas's defensive front that was still meshing together and figuring things out among the younger guys in 2021, he never quite lived up to the five-star billing he had as a top-20 ranked prospect in the nation in the high school recruiting class of 2016.

Davis was the nation's top-ranked inside linebacker recruit in the 2016 class in the 247Sports Composite. He was the highest-ranked recruit for Alabama in the 2016 cycle, which was a class that ranked first in the nation in the 247Sports Composite, and included big-time championship contributors and future NFL starters like quarterback Jalen Hurts, DL Quinnen Williams, DB Trevon Diggs, and RB Josh Jacobs, among many others.

Entering the 2024 season, Texas's EDGE room is full of likely future NFL Draft picks who were picked to the All-SEC preseason team, including senior Barryn Sorrell, UTSA transfer Trey Moore, and junior Ethan Burke. This goes to show how well PK has evaluated and developed talent and how that process has improved for Texas's defensive staff year-over-year in the last 18-24 months with high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

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