Just saw the Yahoo Sports piece about John Meredith III and I keep circling back to the same question about this staff. Sarkisian lost key defensive coaches this offseason and the replacements are still unproven at this level. The 2027 class is stacking talent but the actual on-field product last season had Texas at No. 52 nationally in defensive havoc rate. That is not a playoff defense.
Meredith is a legit 5-star corner and locking down in-state talent matters. But coaching hires matter more. Texas has the raw talent to compete for a title. The question is whether the new defensive staff can develop that talent into something that actually stops explosive plays. The Longhorns gave up 32 completions of 30-plus yards last season. That has to be the focus this summer.