By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — Before the football season began, Horns Illustrated outlined a “Texas Six-Pack” of somewhat under-the-radar players that we thought would make an impact for the Longhorns in 2019.
On the defensive side of the ball, we picked out Keondre Coburn, the massive redshirt freshman nose tackle who has anchored the line and recorded six tackles (three of them solo) and one sack, and Jeffrey McCulloch, the senior linebacker and team leader who has 23 total stops, 17 of them solo, one-and-a-half tackles for a loss and a quarterback hurry.
The third choice was [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]sophomore cornerback Kobe Boyce, who has mostly struggled, recording only three tackles and two pass breakups over the first four games.
I think we have earned a “B” for our choices, which were made before seeing one snap of action this season. The Texas defense has been dominant in two of its games but has allowed an average of 436 yards per outing.
So with the change to fall, we have chosen six other Texas players who didn’t enter the season as stars but have quickly established themselves as key components to the Longhorns’ 3-1 beginning.
Today, we focus on the defense.
Chris Brown — junior safety
Brown was a mostly unheralded member of the Texas secondary when camp began, but took huge strides in preseason workouts before the season opener and has continued to shine over the Longhorns’ first four games.
“Playmaker — he’s got great instincts,” Texas coach Tom Herman said about Brown. “Physical, but had a lot of development to go. He’s not going to get any taller, so we needed to make sure that he was strong and able to stand the physicality of the position. We all knew very early that he had a knack for the football and wasn’t afraid to throw his body around.”
Brown has showed his physicality over the first four games, amassing 18 tackles (16 of them solo), two tackles for a loss, two pass breakups and an interception.
Joseph Ossai — sophomore linebacker
Ossai has picked up right where he left off last year, when he played in all 14 games and earned his first start in the regular-season finale against Kansas. He had five tackles in that game and then a team-high eight stops in the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia.
Ossai has made plenty of plays through the first four games from his rush-linebacker spot. He leads the team with two interceptions and has 21 tackles (fourth on the squad), four tackles for a loss, two sacks and quarterback hurry and a forced fumble.
“I certainly have a lot of confidence, but I have a lot more confidence in the team,” Ossai said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without them, especially the D-line.”
Montrell Estell — sophomore safety
Forced into service by injuries to B.J. Foster and DeMarvion Overshown, Estell made his first career start at safety in the win over Oklahoma State, and made quite an impact.
Texas had enough confidence in Estell after a week of work with the No. 1 defense to move Josh Thompson to cornerback and roll senior safety Brandon Jones to the nickel, and Estell produced, ending up second on the team with nine tackles, tripling his combined total from the first three games.
His second-quarter interception also set up a touchdown.
“Montrell did a really good job,” Herman said. “We challenged him all week. At the same time, we made sure that he understood how much belief we had in him. Really, really proud of him. Really proud of him.”
With injuries set to keep Caden Sterns and Thompson on the bench for at least four weeks, Estell’s time is now.
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