Texas football: 5 bold predictions for the Longhorns in 2020

2. Texas ranks in the top 10 in the country for total defense.

We just talked about how bad the Texas defense was last season, which makes this prediction all the wilder. They ranked No. 89 in the country in this category last season which would make being in the top 10 a significant improvement. As crazy as it seems, it is possible for the Longhorns to achieve.

The main reason is the experience that they return on that side of the ball. Linebacker Joseph returns after leading the team in tackles last season. They also get back linebacker Juwan Mitchell up the middle as well as both of their starting defensive tackles. On paper at least, the Longhorns should be pretty stout against the run.

How they will be against the pass should be the bigger question but with Caden Sterns back to anchor the secondary and a pair of corners that only gained experience last year, the pass defense has a very good shot of being good. All of this leads to a stout defense, but none of it is as important as Chris Ash coming in to lead the Longhorns defense.

Ash is coming off a head coaching stint with Rutgers, but before that he was co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State on the opposite end of Herman in the 2014 national championship team. Ash coordinated some stout defenses in Columbus and there is no reason that he can’t do the same at Texas.