Watch Texas football player Kelvin Banks Jr. master the best BBQ in Austin
Food critic Matthew Odam sits down with Texas Longhorns offensive lineman Kelvin Banks Jr. for an exclusive Statesman interview.
Defensive tackle Vernon Broughton may be entering his first season as a starter for the Texas football team, but the fifth-year senior has already proven that he is a seasoned veteran.
And he certainly made a savvy move last spring when he missed the Longhorns’ orange and white spring game on April 20 to marry his wife, Camille, in Dallas.
“She would have kicked my ass if I went to that spring game,” Broughton said, flashing a big grin as he chatted with the media after practice Tuesday. “I was planning on marrying my beautiful wife after the spring game, but that was planned two months in advance before they announced the spring game.”
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Hopes to follow in the NFL footsteps of T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy
Broughton jokingly described his wedding day as a “business decision,” and since the end of the 2023 season, he’s been all in the business. The 6-foot-4, 295-pound Houston native played a crucial role in the defensive tackle rotation behind starters T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy last season, and assumed the role of assumed starter alongside Alfred Collins once Murphy and Sweat — both drafted last spring — began their NFL preparation.
Including Keondre Coburn and Moro Ojomo in 2023, four Texas defensive tackles have gone to the NFL in the last two drafts. Broughton welcomes those expectations as well as the recent tradition at the position.
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“Sweat and Murph set the standard here, and years before them, Coburn and everyone else,” he said. “We decided to keep it that way and just keep the same dominance mentality. We’re just going to do what we have to do.”
But what do Broughton, Collins and a strong rotation of tackles have to do to build on last season’s success, when Texas ranked third in the nation in run defense, allowing just 82.4 yards per game? First of all, according to head coach Steve Sarkisian, Broughton and Collins just have to be themselves.
“They’re not Sweat and Murphy, they’re different types of players,” Sarkisian said earlier this summer. “Vernon has really developed well and has become very consistent.”
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Broughton is enthusiastic about the technology
Broughton has also embraced the teachings of new defensive line coach Kenny Baker, who replaced Bo Davis in the offseason. Baker, who spent the 2023 football season working with the Miami Dolphins’ defensive line, focuses on fundamentals and emphasizes technique, an approach Broughton appreciates. He knows proper technique will not only help him hold his own against the 340-pound behemoths of the offensive line, but will also increase his chances of joining his predecessors in the NFL.
“Let’s say I’m a three-technician and a right-three-technician and I step left foot first,” Broughton said. “Coach Baker would teach me to keep my hand from being on his chest or outside the pad. He teaches me all that, which I love because I needed that. That improved my game so much. I’m grateful to him for that.”
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Hayden Conner, the left guard for Texas who has worked against Broughton in practice for four years, says that attention to detail shows on the field.
“Vernon is a guy who has worked hard every day and it shows,” he said. “He’s just getting his chance. He’s going to be a really good part of our defense this year. It’s fun to play against him every day.”
Except, of course, during the Orange White Game in the spring, when Broughton had other plans.
