FootballScoop is proud to announce that Bo Davis (Texas) is the 2023 FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.
It's no coincidence that Texas finally completed its climb back up the mountain to college football relevancy when it had the best defensive tackle tandem in the game.
Senior defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat won the Outland Trophy as college football's best interior lineman -- offense or defense -- and was one of just 14 unanimous All-Americans across the sport. The Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year posted 42 tackles -- sixth on the team -- with eight TFLs and two sacks.
Playing next to him was, by far, the premier second-best defensive tackle in the nation in junior Byron Murphy. Playing closest to the center, Murphy collected 26 tackles, eight TFLs and five sacks on the season. While Sweat was the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year, Murphy was named the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year.
Together with fellow tackles Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton, Trill Carter and Jaray Bledsoe, Texas controlled the middle of the field throughout the season.
The Big 12 champions enter the College Football Playoff ranked third nationally against the run, limiting opponents to 80.85 yards per game and 2.87 per carry. Five of 13 opponents have failed to hit the 35-yard mark, six opponents failed to rush for two yards per carry. Houston (14 yards), Kansas State (30), Iowa State (nine) and Oklahoma State (31) all registered season-lows against the Longhorns, and TCU (87) was one above its season low.
Texas also displayed steady improvement in pass rush. After ranking 101st in sacks in 2021 and 71st a year ago, Texas is 35th in the country at 2.46 sacks per game. Sophomore defensive end Ethan Burke leads the team with 5.5 sacks, followed closely by Murphy's five.
Controlling the line of scrimmage has allowed Texas to place second nationally in third down defense, permitting 44 conversions on 166 attempts (26.5 percent), while ranking third in red zone defense, surrendering 25 scores in 35 trips.
Davis was a Second Team All-SEC nose guard at LSU in 1992, then entered the profession as a GA with LSU's strength program in 1995. He spent 1997-02 coaching at powerhouse Galena Park North Shore High School near Houston, then returned to the college game as a strength coach on Nick Saban's LSU staff. He followed Saban to the Miami Dolphins, then coached the defensive line for Saban at Alabama. Davis is in his second stint at Texas, having initially coached defensive tackles for the Longhorns from 2011-13. He has also coached for UTSA, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Detroit Lions.
Davis also won this award in 2015 while coaching with Nick Saban at Alabama.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Deion Barnes [Penn State], Pat Kuntz [James Madison], Ikaika Malloe [UCLA], Eric McDaniel [Troy] and Davis) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Previous winners of the Defensive Line Coach of the Year award are Dick Bumpas (TCU, 2008), Jim Panagos (Central Florida, 2009), Bill Kirelawich (West Virginia, 2010), Brick Haley (LSU, 2011), Randy Hart (Stanford, 2012), Ron Burton (Michigan State, 2013), Craig Kuligowski (Missouri, 2014), Bo Davis (Alabama, 2015), Greg Mattison (Michigan, 2016), Larry Johnson (Ohio State, 2017), Ron Burton and Chuck Bullough (Michigan State, 2018), David Turner (Florida, 2019), Charlie Partridge (Pittsburgh, 2020, 2022), and Shaun Nua (Michigan, 2021).
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