Super seniors lead charge to meet Texas’ high expectations

Jordan Mitchell, Associate Sports Editor

Seven Longhorns remain from the recruiting class of 2018.

During his first full season coaching, Tom Herman, former Texas head coach, hit the recruiting trail running. His 2018 class was ranked No. 3 in the nation by 247Sports and included six top 25 defensive backs in what was one of the top secondary recruiting classes in college football.

By the end of the 2021 season, only half of the 2018 defensive backs remained — DeMarvion Overshown, Anthony Cook and D’Shawn Jamison. Caden Sterns was drafted to the Denver Broncos. B.J. Foster and Jalen Green transferred to Sam Houston and Mississippi State, respectively. 


With Texas’ defensive ranking being in the bottom quartile in points allowed for Division I football programs and the team failing to secure a bowl game berth in 2021, the Longhorn super seniors are ready to silence the critics in 2022. 

Every fifth-year senior’s performance will hold great weight on whether Texas makes an appearance in the Big 12 title game. Keondre Coburn and Moro Ojomo anchor down the defensive line, while Junior Angilau and Christian Jones line up opposite. Overshown typically plays across the opposing team’s tight end at linebacker, and Jamison and Cook play at cornerback and safety. 

During the first scrimmage of fall camp, Angilau, Texas’ starting guard of three years, went down with a season-ending ACL injury, forcing freshmen Kelvin Banks and Cole Hutson to make earlier than expected appearances as starters on the offensive line. 

However, Angilau still has a large leadership presence on the team.

“If you ask anyone on the team, ‘Who’s the most bought in, who’s the most driven person on the team?’ I think all their answers will be Junior,” Jones said in a media availability on August 19. “That’s a testament to him, and that just permeates throughout the whole group.”

With Angilau missing on the line, Jones feels that he has big shoes to fill and that he has to play for his teammate. The Longhorns had an underwhelming offensive line last season, allowing 26 sacks and contributing to multiple second-half collapses, making Jones’ role as one of the sole upperclassmen that much more important.

“For him to have an injury like that just out of nowhere, it broke both of us,” Jones said. “I feel like I owe it to him and the team to give my best every single day, because I know he’d do anything just to have one rep in practice.”

Overshown has also emerged as a vocal leader in the last couple of seasons. Leading the team in tackling in 2021, the Arp, Texas product settled into his new position as a linebacker and grew more comfortable nagging on his teammates.

“For him, I think there’s a real level of comfort that’s allowing him to play to his skill set,” Sarkisian said in a March 29 media availability. “He can run, he’s physical, he’s long. He’s very versatile. I think we’re starting to reap the benefits of the skillset now.”

As a fifth-year, Overshown expects to take on a larger role in the locker room this season. With Sarkisian trying to resuscitate a dormant winning Texas football culture, Overshown looks to serve as a mentor and resource for younger guys. 

“Just being the quarterback of the defense, I love it,” Overshown told “The Number One Ranked Show.” “I’m glad I’ve been here. I came back for a fifth year to be that mentor to the young guys to know the ins and outs of what we got to do.”

Like Overshown, Cook has been switched around too. Recruited as a cornerback, Cook spent some time playing traditional cornerback, as well as playing as a nickelback, before transitioning to safety during spring training. 

Coming into this season, Texas had little depth at safety with the departures of starting safeties Brenden Schooler to the NFL and B.J. Foster to Sam Houston. Following a 2021 campaign that saw the defense give up an average of 424.4 yards a game, Sarkisian needed an answer to a lacking secondary.

Through playing the new position, Cook is finding himself having to communicate more intentionally with the defense as a whole, thereby naturally growing as a leader.

“Now I’m the one that has to do the communicating,” Cook said in an August 9 media availability. “(I have to) get guys on the right page. If you don’t communicate, pre-snap or post-snap, then you get a lot of busting.” 

Cook has played many positions in Texas’ system, making Sarkisian confident that he will find success at the position. 

“Cook has played a lot of football, so he’s seen a lot of football, and so I think it comes really, really natural to him,” Sarkisian said in an August 9 media availability. “Sometimes giving people the opportunity to be vocal, you find out that maybe they’re a little more vocal than they might (seem).”

Back in 2020, Cook entered the transfer portal but withdrew his name a few days before preseason training began. He notes that like Jamison and Overshown, he felt there was unfinished business at Texas, which kept him and the other original 2018 defensive backs in Austin for their final year of eligibility. 

“My freshman year, we went to that Big 12 championship. But we didn’t win it,” Cook said. “It’s been a minute (since). So that’s the main reason I came back. I want to win a Big 12 championship.”

Getting back to the conference championship game will not be easy for Texas. As of Tuesday’s AP Poll, Oklahoma, Baylor and Oklahoma State are all ranked within the top 25 teams in the nation. The Longhorns also play a tough nonconference stretch with matchups against No. 1 Alabama at home and UTSA, one of the best FCS teams in the nation.

But one thing is almost certain — if the Longhorns make it back to AT&T Stadium for the first time since 2018, the super seniors will have a large role in doing so.

Overshown believes that making it back to the Big 12 championship is the bare minimum for a program like Texas, and that he is prepared to put the team on his shoulders to reach the high expectations.

“I feel like every year coming into the season, people have expectations for Texas,” Overshown said. “Being a fifth year, I’ve taken that upon myself to make sure everybody knows no matter how we do (or) what we’ve done last year, the standard is the standard. We’re expected to win, and that’s what we need to do.”