Know the Foe: Texas

Football Sep 03

By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

Even though Texas is favored by 37 1/2 points against ULM this week, second-year coach Steve Sarkisian wasn't willing to pull back the curtains and shine the light on his team.

In a bit of gamesmanship, Sarkisian elected not to release a depth chart heading into Saturday's season-opening date against the Warhawks at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

"We're playing a team [ULM], coached by Terry Bowden who's been doing it at a high level for a long time, been around great programs, got a really veteran coaching staff, new coordinators, which is obviously challenging when you're trying to prepare your team," said Sarkisian, who finished 5-7 in his first year coaching Texas. "I think our ability to adjust Saturday night is going to be critical from a coach's standpoint, and then a player's standpoint, because you try to prepare for as much as you can. You want to make sure that you put your players in a position to play fast, play physically tough and do those things."

Even without a full reveal, the Longhorns boast their share of headliners, so much is known about this talented squad heading into a season. ULM's second-year coach Terry Bowden is certainly aware.

"We expect to see the preseason favorite in the Big 12 when we go out there," Bowden said this week. "Very talented football team and an incredible environment."

For ULM, this marks the second meeting with Texas, which defeated the Warhawks, 59-20, in 2009.

"Texas will be an incredible challenge for us," Bowden said. "But having coached for seven years at Akron before I came here, this is pretty much the agenda that you have at our level. We're going to open up with a Power Five team and we're going to have to go out there and do the best that we can."

Last season, the Texas offense ranked 18th in the nation and second in the Big 12 Conference, averaging 35.5 points per game.

The Longhorns roll with a Heisman Trophy candidate in junior running back Bijan Robinson, who rushed for 1,127 yards and 11 touchdowns a year ago despite missing the final two games with an elbow injury. For his career, Robinson has 26 plays (19 rushes/7 receptions) of 20-plus yards and that includes six of 50 or more (all runs).

The Longhorns return their top three rushers from 2021. Robinson, Roschon Johnson and Keilan Robinson, combined for 2,018 rushing yards and accounted for 84 percent of the team's rushing output last season.

The contest marks the debut of new starting quarterback Quinn Ewers, who arrived in Austin after spending last season with Ohio State. He was the nation's top prospect coming out of high school.

"This has obviously been a dream for me," said Ewers, who produced 6,400 yards and 73 passing touchdowns in two seasons at Carroll Senior High School.

A primary passing target will be receiver Xavier Worthy, a Freshman All-American after making 62 catches for 981 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2021.

On defense, linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was a Butkus Award semifinalist in 2021 after making 74 tackles (38 solo) with 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. Overshown has played in 38 games and made 22 starts during his collegiate career.

Senior defensive lineman Keondre Coburn has appeared in 38 games with 33 starts during his four-year career at Texas. Last season, Coburn registered 15 tackles (nine solo), with two tackles for loss and one sack.

Super senior defensive back D'Shawn Jamison brings juice to the return game. For his career, Jamison ranks fourth in Texas history in kick returns (54) and kick return yards (1,435), while his current average 26.5 yards per return stands as the second-best in UT history. One of only five Longhorns to return both a punt and kickoff for a touchdown during his career, Jamison has returned two kickoffs and one punt for touchdowns in his career.

"So, a big challenge for our defensive side of the ball with a lot of playmakers coming back for these guys," Sarkisian said of ULM. "Quarterback (Chandler Rogers) is an electric guy who can do it on the ground, through the air; two good runners, receivers that can create explosive plays, then defensively the challenge is a lot of new faces. There's a couple of veteran guys back but a lot of new faces. So, we have our work cut out for us."

Warhawk connections: Texas quarterbacks coach A.J. Milwee served as a graduate assistant for Bowden at North Alabama and spent seven years on his Akron staff from 2012-18. Milwee was Akron's quarterbacks coach in 2012 and offensive coordinator from 2013-18.

Former Longhorns' offensive lineman Willie Tyler played at ULM last year before transferring to Rutgers

Longhorn shorts: The opener against ULM is the first of seven home games for Texas at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. UT is 110-16-3 (.863) all-time in home openers, with victories in each of the last four seasons after defeating Tulsa in 2018, Louisiana Tech in 2019, UTEP in 2020 and Louisiana Lafayette in 2021. … Bowden said he has broadcast a game from DKR before but never coached in the stadium. … Robinson (1.127 yards) and Johnson (569 yards) made up the seventh running back duo in UT history with a 1,000- and 500-yard rusher. … The Longhorns are 31-9-2 all-time against teams from the state of Louisiana. Texas has faced Tulane (17-1-1), LSU (9-8-1), ULL (3-0), ULM (1-0) and Louisiana Tech (1-0).

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Know the Foe: Texas