Coburn wants to devour QBs
Westfield product known as ‘Snacks’ shows promise at DT
AUSTIN — “Snacks” is feeling himself these days.
That’s good news for 12thranked Texas (2-1) and the man behind the moniker, Keondre Coburn. The nickname came courtesy of fellow defensive lineman Malcolm Roach, who once noted during a recruiting visit how the hulking defensive tackle always stayed strapped with, yep, snacks.
“One time I came during my sophomore or junior year to visit, I had some snacks on me,” Coburn recalled Tuesday. “He said, ‘Man, why you always have snacks with you?’
“So ever since I’ve been here he’s been calling me Snacks.”
What kind of scrumptious morsels does the 6--2, 340-pound redshirt freshman enjoy gorging on most?
“Anything I can get my hands on,” he smirked.
Coburn enjoys getting his hands on opposing quarterbacks, too. And last week, for the first time in his college career, Snacks finally feasted on a quarterback.
It was the first snap of Rice’s fourth possession in a game Texas had dominated. Coburn swam left past the center, treated the right guard like he was some petite coach with a blocking pad and swallowed fleeing quarterback Tom Stewart.
Coburn released a roar loud enough that it echoed out through the television broadcast. He dapped up Roach and forcefully locked arms with the senior like some conquering Vikings.
The rest of his teammates joined in the revelry.
“Got a few hits on the head,” Coburn said. “People were saying the D-line room are big dogs. ‘Sack master’ and stuff like that. I ain’t no sack master yet. But we were just having fun, enjoying the moment.”
Coburn finished the 48-13 win with a career-high four tackles, two solo, plus the aforementioned sack. It was a sigh-of-relief performance following a difficult game against LSU.
The entire Texas defense was beaten in that 45-38 loss at RoyalMemorial Stadium, the line included. Coburn was particularly hard on himself — he had LSU quarterback Joe Burrow within his grasp on that fateful fourthquarter, third-and-17 play that turned into a 61-yard touchdown reception.
Coburn’s teammates hoisted him out of the pits.
“He was a little down after the LSU game because he thought he could’ve performed better,” Roach said Tuesday. “I told him, ‘It’s about the way you approach games every week, you can’t play around with things like that.’
“And he’s starting to see it with the success he had against Rice, so I think he’s going to do that every week now.”
Once upon a time in high school at Westfield, Coburn shared a line with Ed Oliver, an eventual all-world pass-rusher at Houston who was selected ninth overall by Buffalo in this year’s NFL draft.
Coburn was just a sophomore then, a blank book looking for inspiration. Oliver, then a senior, provided it. Together, they helped lead Westfield to a 10-2 record and a share of the district title.
Oliver’s understudy was unanimously chosen as District 16-5A newcomer of the year for his role in a defense that allowed 16.5 points per game.
“He was a defensive tackle who never stopped on the field,” Coburn said of Oliver. “I’m talking about even if he didn’t make the play, he’s still running down the field. If you want to be a dominant defensive tackle or a good player, you’ve gotta be able to move all the time.
“So seeing the way he moved throughout a play was unbelievable. I was like, ‘I’ve gotta be just like that.’ ”
Coburn has never stopped channeling Oliver’s perpetual energy on the field. Despite his heft and a kidney issue that requires daily monitoring, the mountainous nose tackle has a stunning motor.
His presence in the middle of the Texas defense is growing week by week. That growth should, Roach said, allow the rest of the defense to play more freely.
“He’s walking around with a different type of confidence,” Roach said. “It’s a good confidence, though, not anything cocky. It’s something you want to see people walking around with.”
Texas will need the newly confident Coburn to reappear Saturday against Oklahoma State (3-0) and its rocket-fueled offense. The Cowboys boast the nation’s leading rusher in sophomore Chubba Hubbard and a veteran offensive line that has started a combined 95 games.
If Coburn, Roach and defensive end Ta’Quon Graham can’t play havoc with the Cowboys’ line, the Longhorns road back to the Big 12 championship game could hit a major snag.
It’s a good thing, then, that Snacks is hungry for more sacks.
“I’m carrying extra confidence,” Coburn said. “And actually, I’m feeling myself.
“It’s being in a program that loves you. When you do something good, everyone else is happier than you. So I feel more confident, like I’m actually doing something now. The confidence is going up really high.”