An NFL Safety Talent? Arkansas Defensive Players to Watch vs. Texas

Texas Longhorns Traveling to Fayetteville to Face an Experienced Arkansas Razorbacks Defense

Matt Galatzan | Sep 8, 2021

Following their impressive win over Louisiana last weekend, the Texas Longhorns will travel to Fayetteville to face the Arkansas Razorbacks, who are coming off of an impressive win of their own.

With 10 starters returning, the Razorbacks will count on star safety and All American candidate Jalen Catalon to lead the way against Hudson Card and the Texas offense.

Arkansas’s defense last season allowed an unimpressive 452 yards and 35 points per game. Can defensive coordinator Barry Odom help them take a step forward?

Make sure to stick with LonghornsCountry.com through our season preview series, where we will analyze every opponent on the Longhorns schedule in 2021 leading up to each matchup.

Now, on to the Razorbacks.

S Jalen Catalon

The young redshirt sophomore safety has shown glimpses of greatness this past season, putting up 99 tackles, three interceptions, and seven passes defended.

Catalon earned second-team All-SEC honors last season, but is still looking to improve on an impressive 2020.

Against the Owls, Catalon was the star of the show, finishing with 11 tackles, a tackle for loss and two interceptions.

LB Bumper Pool

The leader of the linebacker room Bumper Pool has been a consistent performer in the Razorbacks defense, and will be counted on to stabilize the middle of the defense.

Last week against Rice, Pool was all over the field, finishing with 14 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss.

DE Eric Gregory

At 298 pounds, Eric Gregory has been improving every season. Most recently, he played nine games last season, finishing with 27 tackles and a team-high 2.5 sacks.

Gregory had three tackles and .5 tackles for loss last week.

DT Isaiah Nichols

Redshirt junior defensive tackle Isaiah Nichols will also play a big part in the defense, posting 24 tackles and half a sack last season.

Nichols will look to use his experience to build on last year, as the Razorbacks look to improve on their defensive front.

Nichols had one tackle and one sack last week against Rice.

Published Sep 8, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.