‘We believe we’ve created a standard’: Tyrone Nix’s defense is a ballhawking machine

BY GAVIN PATRICK

Sports Editor

Oftentimes a football game is decided by which team wins the turnover margin. In 2025, Tarleton State did that better than any college football team in recent memory.

The Texans took the ball away 39 times in 2025, the most by a college football team since James Madsion had 44 takeaways in 2017-18. And to complement, the offense only gave the ball away nine times all year, tied for the third-lowest mark in the FCS.

This gave the Texans a whopping +30 turnover margin for the season, a feat no college football team has achieved in 24 years.

“We take it personally,” defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix said. “Offensive guys say, ‘We turn the ball over.’ And we say, ‘No, we took the ball.’”

As much as Nix stresses taking the ball away to his players through drill work, videos, phrases and other tactics, he was “shocked” when he heard the number. He doesn’t keep track of the exact amount of takeaways throughout the season; he just gets his players in position to affect the ball on every play.

Turning the ball over is a team effort. Only one player can end up with the ball, but in most cases, every level of the Texan defense plays a part by diligently working to get the ball back to the offense.

“When we win on first down, we’re able to dictate the situation on third down, which allows me to call the game differently,” Nix said. “And in doing so, we can dial up more pressures to get after the quarterback, we can dial up more zones to have vision to break on the ball. Each part of the defense has to do their particular job in order to get us in those positions.”

To Nix, it starts up front with pressure to the quarterback, with this year’s unit led by all-conference defensive tackle Brandon Tolvert.

Edge defenders Angelo Anderson and Yasir Holmes had a big say as well, combining for 17.5 sacks, but more importantly for affecting throws the quarterback did get off.

“Some of the coverages we play require a lot of accuracy out of the quarterback,” Nix said. “And when he’s under distress having to make that throw, it makes it a heck of a lot more challenging for him.”

One thing Nix said he discusses with his unit is the serenity prayer in controlling the controllables and the narrative of how Tarleton football is perceived. One way to do that, he says, is by giving maximum effort on every play.

A play in football usually lasts between four to six seconds. If every player does their job with the correct fundamentals for six seconds, as Nix says, they will make a lot of people proud.

“It’s been a really big deal of talking about oneness, family culture of one heartbeat, and that starts from our head coach [Todd Whitten],” Nix said. “He allows us all to take part in the culture of this program, and he leads by example and we follow his lead.”

Another big teaching point of Nix’s is defining a sin versus a loaf.

There’s three characteristics of a loaf, says Nix: 1) burst and strength to the ball, 2) maximum speed and 3) finish. A sin is failing to do any of those three—or perhaps, as linebacker AJ Owens said, dropping a ball when it comes your way.

“We feel like if you do those three things on each play, you’re gonna have a chance to create more takeaways, more violent hits, plays that impact the game,” Nix said. “An absence of any of those three is a violation of the Texan defense creed or code. That’s a commitment we make to each other. That’s the way we’re gonna play the game.”

One player who meets those standards as well as anyone on the team is All-American corner Kasyus Kurns. The fifth-year senior snagged a nation-high six interceptions in 2025, including two against FBS Army. Nix called him “one of the best leaders” he’s been around in his 25-plus years coaching Division I football.

Like most humble stars would say, Kurns doesn’t take credit for those interceptions. But he does feed off a collective mindset position coach Devante Sims always preaches.

“There are no 50-50 balls in the corner room; it’s 100% ours when the ball is in the air…” Kurns said. “We have as much a right to it than the receiver. They’re not throwing it to them, they’re throwing it to us.”

Whether the game is close or not so close, as were many for Tarleton State this season, turnovers are always a key factor in the complexion of a football game. One play can turn the game on its head or boost momentum from a crawl to a stampede.

“I do think they matter much more when the game is close, but the reason why the game is so far [out of reach] also is because of the turnovers,” Owens said. “Just the difference in momentum. Teams don’t want to play hard in the fourth quarter when it’s a bunch of turnovers and sudden changes; that demoralizes a team.”

To put it simply, every takeaway stops a possession for an offense and creates an extra possession for the other offense. With an offense as high powered as Tarleton State’s, it makes sense that they were able to become the highest scoring unit in the nation, scoring 42 points a game, with 39 extra possessions to work with.

“You have to credit the offense for not turning the ball over,” Kurns said. “Those guys are pretty good on that side of the ball, too. But it’s really just a whole team effort that’s very well matched, and it’s just something that we got to continue to work towards.”

The offense and defense playing off each other’s strengths led to the Texans owning the second-highest point differential (+334) in the FCS in 2025, one of the defining statistics in determining the best teams in a football division.

It’s just the beginning for the take-a-ball Texans, even though the numbers may never look better than they did this season.

“We feel like the game is our biggest platform to go speak on how we play as a team, how disciplined we are and understanding that we can make a difference on how Tarleton football is looked upon,” Nix said, “one play at a time.”