#46

Joseph Ossai

Former linebacker at Texas. 2020: 55 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks.

LB · Texas · Jr. · #46

6′4″ · 253 lb · Conroe, TX

Consensus AACincinnati — drafted 2021, Rd 3, Pick 5, #69 overall

Recruiting

4★

WDE recruit

No. 186 nationally · Signed with Texas

Career night12 tackles · 6 TFL · 3 sacksat Oklahoma State (FBS) · W 41-34

Top 0.1% tackles for loss game since 2021.

Ossai is so far above any player on our defense it’s not even funnyr/CFB game thread · ▲ 5His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former linebacker at Texas. 2020: 55 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Texas in 2018.
Drafted round 3 by the Cincinnati in 2021.
Named All-America (AP) in 2020.

The full story, with sources

How it ended

Three seasons at Texas, 165 tackles, an All-American season (2020) — drafted at #69 overall by Cincinnati.

His career

He arrived as a blue-chip recruit and played like one.

20187 games

Signed with Texas4-star out of Oak Ridge

20209 games

All-Americafirst · 7 selectors
All-Big 12first

2021

Drafted by Cincinnatiround 3, pick 69

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#186 national

CFB

College

Texas

2018–2020

NFL

NFL Draft

R3 · #69

Cincinnati · 2021

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

7 honors · 2 categories

🏆

ALL-AMERICA · CONSENSUS

Consensus AA (2020)

5 first-team selectors

🥈

ALL-BIG 12 · 1ST TEAM

All-Big 12 1st team (2020)

Coaching lineage · 2018–2020

1 coach

2018–2020

Tom Herman

Texas

Played his entire career under Tom Herman.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

CincinnatiEntering 6th NFL season

#69Rd 3 · Pick 5

CincinnatiEntering 6th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

Career stats

Season	Team
2020	Texas	55	25	15.5	5.5	2	--	--
2019	Texas	90	61	13.5	5.0	1	2	--
2018	Texas	20	13	1.0	1.0	--	--	--
Career		165	99	30.0	11.5	3	2	--

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2020 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 2	W 59-3vs UTEP	8	2	0.5	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	W 63-56@ Texas Tech	2	1	0.0	0.0	—	2
Wk 5	L 31-33vs TCU	11	2	3.5	1.0	—	0	3.5 TFL
Wk 6	L 45-53@ Oklahoma	10	6	2.0	0.5	—	0
Wk 8	W 27-16vs Baylor	3	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 9	W 41-34@ Oklahoma State	12	7	6.0	3.0	—	0	Season-high 12 tackles
Wk 10	W 17-13vs West Virginia	3	2	1.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 13	L 20-23vs Iowa State	3	0	0.5	0.0	—	0
Wk 14	W 69-31@ Kansas State	3	3	2.0	1.0	—	0
Total		55	25	15.5	5.5	—	2

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 9 · 2020

W 41–34

at Oklahoma State

3 sacks · 6 tackles for loss · 12 tackles

Edged out Oklahoma State on the road in a shootout.

With R. Bujcevski — 47.1 yards per punt · 9 punts · 5 inside the 20 · D. Jamison — 2 tackles · 1 pass breakups · 2 solo tackles

2020 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

3 seasons under Tom Herman — 25-12 over that span.

2018Texas10-4HC: Tom Herman · Run-leaning

2019Texas8-5HC: Tom Herman · Balanced

2020Texas7-3HC: Tom Herman · Balanced, fast tempo

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles for loss (100th percentile). Strength: sacks (98th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

Tackles for loss#4 / 2211 · 100th pct

15.5

Sacks#42 / 2211 · 98th pct

5.5

Tackles#227 / 2211 · 90th pct

QB hurries#250 / 2211 · 84th pct

Solo tackles#422 / 2211 · 80th pct

Passes defended#471 / 2211 · 72nd pct

Forced fumbles#39 / 497 · 46th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Defensive profile

Defender profile · Production by role

Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet

55 tkl · 16 TFL · 6 sacks · 2 PD

Tackle volume

55tackles this season

TFL rate

28%16 TFL

Sack rate

10%6 sacks

PD rate

4%2 pass breakups

55 tackles · 16 for loss · 6 sacks.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2020 season · 9 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home5g	5.6	1.1	0.2	0.0
Road4g	6.8	2.5	1.1	0.5

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-74g	7.8	1.5	0.4	0.5
Weeks 8+5g	4.8	1.9	0.8	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Steve Sarkisian

Pass share

45.9%

105 pass / 124 run

Plays / game

76.3

3 games

Team sack rate

3.5%

115 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning, fast tempo.

Awards

Player standing · 2020

Consensus All-American

First team on a majority of the recognized selector lists.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Selector Grid · 2020

AP—

FWAA1st

AFCA—

WCFF1st

SN—

SI—

Named Consensus All-American — recognized on 3+ of the 5 NCAA-recognized selector lists.

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology