Texas DC Pete Kwiatkowski Shares Longhorns 'Big Emphasis' to Fix Pass Defense

In terms of raw stats, the Longhorns left a lot to be desired in pass defense last season. Can it be fixed?

11. (tie) Pete Kwiatkowski, Texas defensive coordinator, $1.7 million. / Ricardo B. Brazziell / USA TODAY NETWORK

AUSTIN - The Texas Longhorns had one of the best overall defenses in college football in 2023.

In large part that was due to the rush defense, which ranked third in the nation, and allowed less than 83 yards per game.

Where things weren't as smooth, however, were on the backend in pass defense, where Texas ranked 116th in the country, and gave up north of 256 yards per game.

Of course, those raw numbers don't tell the whole story.

Texas was thrown on the third most in college football, facing 503 pass attempts throughout the year, but still ranked 33rd in the country in pass efficiency on defense, per Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.

Still, were there not a glaring weakness on the back end, the Horns surely would not have faced such an onslaught through the air.

And according to Kwiatkowski, the Horns are working to fix those issues in multiple ways.

11. (tie) Pete Kwiatkowski, Texas defensive coordinator, $1.7 million. / Ricardo B. Brazziell / USA TODAY NETWORK

“The big emphasis this year is the fundamentals of football," Kwiatkowski said Tuesday. "Block destruction, across the board, defensive backs, linebackers, D-line, they do that all the time. Creating turnovers, creating fumbles, that’s an emphasis... And then tackling, we did a little study, we did a lot better job with an 88 percent tackling success. If we could just bump that up 5 percent, a lot of those pass yards we gave up would go down.”

Obivously, each of the points mentioned by Kwiatkowski could always stand to be improved.

That said, in terms of turnovers, the Longhorns were still elite, finishing 10th in the nation in interceptions with 16, and 13th in the nation in total turnovers gained. So if the Longhorns can replicate that, they will still be in good shape.

Instead, the bigger point of emphasis for Texas should likely be on the pass rush and getting after the quarterback. Something that Kwiatkowski is making a big point of heading into fall camp.

“How can we affect the quarterback? It doesn’t always have to be sacks but they gotta feel us, we gotta make them uncomfortable with the rush," Kwiatkowski said. "The other part of it is being able to change up the pre-snap looks. Not just showing the shell we’re going to end up being in, trying to confuse quarterbacks that way. And then like I said, tackling. Those easy throws, you get them on the ground they don’t get RAC (run after catch). All that stuff adds up.”

Fortunately for Texas, they made two huge additions in the pass rush department in five-star freshman Colin Simmons and UTSA transfer Trey Moore - both of whom are expected to have big impacts alongside returning starters Ethan Burke and Barryn Sorrell.

"(Trey Moore) is going to be a real problem," Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said this spring. "He's going to be a guy to watch this fall."

Texas kicks off the season on August 31 against Colorado State in Austin.