Arizona's win over Texas Tech Saturday night was the result of a group effort, but it's hard to argue against the importance of the defense's performance in the 28-14 victory. Defensive coordinator Marcel Yates' group held what was a top-10 offense to just two touchdowns in the game and only one of those scores came through the air.
The Red Raiders went into the game with one of the more potent passing offenses in the country, but Arizona's secondary proved to be up for the challenge. One of the players who had a standout performance was redshirt junior Lorenzo Burns who had arguably his best game with the Wildcats.
Burns has continued to settle into his role this year after two seasons as the starting boundary cornerback for the Wildcats. Last year he missed a couple games because of injury, but he was still able to put up solid stats. Where the growth has come in his game is not on the every-down type of plays but rather the big moments when a pass is thrown in his direction.
Last season the California native had some issues making a play on the ball when it was in the air and it resulted in a season without an interception after having five picks the previous year. This season he already has two interceptions and is on pace to break his own personal record for pass breakups. Back in the 2017 season he had 12 pass breakups and through three games this year he already has half that number.
Three of those came in the game against Texas Tech Saturday night.
The UA cornerback unit has been the most consistent piece of the defense up to this point in the season and Burns has been a big part of that success.
"Our corners have played very, very hard and well," UA head coach Kevin Sumlin said after Saturday's game. "When you're on an island, like they've been sometimes, that happens. That's part of the business. I thought we did enough today to mix up the coverage, give them help at times and play a little bit more zone."
The UA secondary as a whole stepped up against Texas Tech, but Burns' performance against some difficult opposition set him apart on a night when there were several impressive plays made by the defensive group.
"Lorenzo played great tonight," veteran safety Scottie Young Jr. said of Burns' performance against the Red Raiders' receivers. "He's just been doing what coach Meat (Demetrice Martin) has been coaching him to do playing within our defense, playing with good eyes, good technique and that's when you make plays.
"He did that."
Martin made it a point this offseason to help Burns improve his ability to make positive plays when the ball comes his way and Saturday night the veteran UA cornerback made seemingly all the right plays in those situations especially late in the game.
"What we worked on is his ball location at the moment of truth," the second-year UA cornerbacks coach said last month during training camp. "We're trying to make sure he doesn't panic and get those unnecessary PIs (pass interference) because he's fast as all outdoors. He can run with anybody.
"It's just the panic part at the moment of truth, is what I call it, and he's getting better on it. So we'll see actually when the lights come on."
Now that the lights have been on for three games the veteran defensive back has shown that development in his game and Saturday night it led to one of his best performances at Arizona.
"Some keys I've been working on is just getting my head up, playing the ball better, watching the receiver's eyes and being more confident when I go up for the ball," Burns said last week. "So things like that help me get better."
Burns mentioned that the goal is to get more pass breakups and so far he has been able to do that with Saturday's game being one of his best yet in that regard. He also has been able to intercept a couple passes already this year adding to the stellar turnover numbers the defense has provided so far.
As the Wildcats now get ready to move into conference portion of the season Burns will be one of the key pieces to keeping the momentum going when Arizona starts to face Pac-12 foes.
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