Texas State Football: Is 2021 when Bobcats put it all together?

Eight starters return to try and turn around the defense

The good news for the Texas State defense is that it is experienced and will return eight starters. The bad news is that this defense didn’t rank higher than 112th in the four major statistical categories.

The defensive line returns all three starters and Jordan Revels and last year’s leader in sacks Nico Ezidore will be the leaders up front and they need to be better to turn around the 113th ranked run defense.

The lone returning linebacker is Slone Tupou and he had a nice season a year ago, but with so little experience back at the position, Tupou will have to be better than he was a year ago. The guys that are expected to fill those holes at linebacker will be junior London Harris and freshman Kenny Haynes, both guys that are thought to be impact players.

The secondary is the part of the defense that should be the best for Texas State. Cornerback Jarron Morris was a second-team All-Sun Belt selection and led the team in tackles and had four interceptions to go along with it.

Kevin Anderson and DeJordan Mask return to man the safety spots and Kordell Rogers is the only other defensive back on the roster with an interception.

This defense has nowhere to go but up. It was really bad last year and with even just modest improvement, Texas State will be much better off and be able to win some more close games.