[Full Breakdown] Texas Longhorns Spring Football Preview, Every Position and Depth Chart

today we are talking about the spring football depth chart for the texas longhorns we are going to go into each and every position and we will move down the depth chart at each spot your burning questions will be answered have you been wondering about prince dorba tyler owens hudson cart jared wiley b.j foster anthony cook so have i but i couldn't do it alone we have my friend eric on owner of inside texas and a dope journalist who breaks ut news constantly i'm gonna pepper him with questions and we will know exactly where the team stands by the end of this video at each spot this is the first long forum inside texas and texas homer collab to bring the fans insider information inside texas is my pick for the top reporting source on texas football because they have the track record to prove it they called that hermann would be getting fired when the common reporting at the time was he was surely staying they called it herman was going to come to texas instead of lsu and also they broke the mike ursuch and chris ash hires last year and broke the jeff banks higher this year when i'm looking at primary reporting sources to use for my videos i have to go with a proven track record and inside texas has that and they keep me from giving you wrong information which is extremely important to me so sub to inside texas over on insidetexas.com i recommend them personally and also i was a subscriber long before this channel's creation i actually had to call eric to change my username to texas homer on there when this channel launched and don't forget before the show this video is sponsored by last stand hats they are all over social lately and they have a ton of hat designs in different hat styles all officially licensed by the university of texas so use promo code texas homer all caps for 10 percent off your hat purchase at lastdanhats.com link in the description so are you looking for a full breakdown on spring ball well here's the texas longhorns full spring preview and position breakdown as always don't forget to like subscribe and hit that notification bell so i can keep bringing you bigger and better texas longhorns content if you like what you see join as a channel member if you want to support quality ut content by hitting the blue join button on my page and without further ado let's get into it what's up brother we have uh eric in the house of inside texas fame thanks for coming on the channel man i'm super excited to give the fans what they want here hey thanks for having me uh homer a big fan of your work excited to have you with inside texas uh it's it's i'm looking forward to having uh the ability to to reach more fans uh and i can see you've already got a good community growing and i'm happy to be a part of it thanks man i appreciate that and we definitely have nothing on inside texas but we are making something cool here i think but let's not waste any more time man let's get into some things uh you ready to get going start with offense the first position group is our most watched position battle the fans are really excited for casey thompson and hudson card there's some things i want to get cleared up about both of those guys sark said in his first press conference that thompson and card were equally repping with the ones thompson was electric in the alamo bowl and card's arm has been really impressive behind the scenes it's going to be a legit qb battle so eric when do we see the qb competition actually resolved yeah fans are going to want some resolution in the spring but i wouldn't expect that it's going to be a spirited battle probably going into the first game so don't look for this to be decided anytime soon uh and it shouldn't be because i think they are somewhat equally matched uh obviously casey has the experience factor uh hudson card probably has more athletic upside uh more nfl upside but you know mac jones wasn't exactly the prototype and look what sarkeesian was able to do with him uh casey thompson has a lot of uh a lot of innate ability uh he sees the field well he's a he's a he's a good leader um he's got a better arm than he's given credit for it's not hudson card's arm you know carter carter has more uh upside there's no doubt about it but stark's going to be looking for who leads the offense better who brings the best out of the teammates and that's going to be decided over a lot of reps not just a a month-long block of practices cool there's a lot to look forward to there and this is a kind of off-script but fans ask me this all the time and it's an interesting question do you think whoever ends up not starting will end up transferring uh i doubt it i think that sarkeesian uh holding an open honest uh competition is going to endear himself to both guys they understand that there's a competition involved and somebody has to start taking first snaps that that that that debate might not even be answered in september and of course there's always the injury issue uh neither guy is actually built to be durable uh you know some guys last longer than others johnny manziel took a lot of hits and he was always fine and then other guys are bigger and they're more brittle so you know but card has had trouble staying healthy uh thompson is not a very big guy uh and you're one play away from coming in so you just have to prepare like you're the starter even if you're not um you know there's not much upside in either guy transferring uh right now maybe if thompson loses it uh and then and then he has one year after this season then it might make sense to go pick out the perfect situation for him but i don't think either guy would transfer that's a common common uh concern for fans but i think it's a little overblown all right cool that's to sued the fans a bit and i want both of these guys on the team in the coming years so that's good to hear let's go further down the jet chart is charles wright qb3 what's been ballard up to yeah i mean it's going to be charles wright first ben ballard you know he's deferred to the the scholarship guy well unless you're mike you're such and it's uh ballard versus lynch clinton uh but yeah i mean right right is going to be a guy that you can kind of throw in the fire and let him just run around and try to survive uh you know that's what he's doing throughout his career in high school and you like that he's a little more battle tested i think he's got a good arm quick actions quick feet uh and you know he's just gonna have more advantages over ben ballard even though ballard has had some time in the college game i'm the leader of the charles wright fan club i was really impressed with his arm in high school on his huddle tape now i have an impossible question for you but we got to give the fans what they want at the end of the day who is the starting quarterback for texas when it's all said and done yeah i won't shy away from the tough questions but i will mock them at times uh you know i think it's kind of a kelly bryant situation that we saw at clemson uh with trevor lawrence right behind them you defer the experience first and then you see uh see where it goes from there kelly bryant had you know wasn't performing up to par uh early on and they decided to go with trevor lawrence i'm not saying it's it's exactly like that because i really like casey's upside i mean i've been a fan of casey thompson since he was a sophomore in high school i was talking to my college contacts about them very early on i was excited when texas got them i think there's more talent there than than people realize at the same time there's a point where the the more talented youngster overtakes the guy now you know is that this year next year or maybe not at all because casey has other attributes that make up for it uh but i do think that there's a chance that hudson starts at some point next year uh but i think it's probably more likely that casey is your opening day starter but i'm not sure you know that's and i i i urge fans not to take sides just just hope that the best quarterback plays absolutely taking sides is super silly and we want both of these kids to succeed now what do you know about thompson and cart's leadership behind the scenes we do have a power vacuum there since sam declared for the nfl yeah they're both more quiet as far as leadership goes they're a little more quiet than uh than a lot of your raw rock quarterbacks but uh you know that's everybody has their own style of leadership um they are leaders without a doubt they're not passive uh they're confident um you know uh hudson was at the under armour all-american game that my buddy coached at and jerry was out there as well jerry hamilton here inside texas um and uh that coach who has coached some of the best players to come out of high school in a long time uh told me that he has everything you want and i said what do you mean by everything he said everything i said leadership because that's one of my questions about us because he's a little more quiet and he said yeah he definitely has the leadership he knows he's good but he's not overconfident and that's what you want out of your quarterback so i don't have any i don't have any concerns there but i will say this bijan robinson is probably just is probably the current leader of the team at least on the offensive side of the ball which is rare for a running back dude we are super lucky to have these two quarterbacks battling it out no matter who wins the fans will win and we haven't had that for a long time and that's also awesome that you brought up bhajan as the leader because we are covering the running backs next running back is no surprise bajan robinson will be the starter what can we expect to see out of him in this new offense yeah i mean i think this year we'll see him uh with some more versatility uh than we saw last year you know we were just happy to see him getting carries at later in the season but they'll open up a different a couple more pages on the playbook you'll see him wind up in the slot and they'll throw to him more uh part of that is his ability part of that is they're not super in love with the wide receivers at least not yet uh so they'll take more advantage of his versatility um sarkeesian does like to have a bell cow he will uh he's not a huge into the platoon back system uh so he's gonna you're gonna see your fair share of uh bijan as long as he's healthy quick question under herman we were doing the running back by committee thing i also know that stan drayton wants to preserve his back's nfl potential by not beating them up on every play so was the subbing of the running backs more herman or drayton nah i mean it that's they like running back by committee that was their preference um you know they they also have some of that lead for the program you've got to really earn your way to get on the field i mean we saw the same with keonta ingram his freshman year when he was the most talented running back it's like you know get these guys involved matt brown did it you know matt brown didn't start playing cedric benson so after they lost to ou's freshman year so it's like sometimes these head coaches will ask to know what they're doing cool thanks for clearing that up the number two spot is looking like rashaan johnson so how much we expect to see him on the field yeah well of course bijan's going to get the bulk of the carries but rashaan is is so versatile and so tough that you can do a lot of things with him um you know he's going to get his carriage for sure but also he's going to be a good blocker he's also has good hands he does a little bit of everything i'm excited to see him uh running behind this offensive line you know when there's a more predictable lane he's going to be he's going to be better um he doesn't have like the knee the feel uh and necessarily the nuance that a natural running back like like bijan has but if he has a predictable lane he's gonna hit it really hard the urgency he runs with the toughness that he runs with um he's he's a little bit reckless sometimes you know he's not the most natural he'll miss a hole um but you know when it's when it's down when it's time to get downhill and get it he does that and i think it's this offensive line change is going to is going to benefit him as much as anybody what's rashawn's leadership like behind the scenes is he a leader on the team well without a doubt yeah it's you it's very rare to get this type of leadership from the running back position that they have um everybody respects for sean everybody loves rashawn you know of course you know he he it's rare to get leadership from a running back but really he's still he's got quarterback dna in him that is a good point that rashaan came up as a quarterback and has that mentality so finally we got to figure out who the third running back is i know daniel young is back so what's his status yeah daniel young's back with the team uh so it's a very high floor as far as backup or i wouldn't want to call him an emergency running back because he's talented enough to play especially in short yardage situations uh but yeah he guards against uh any depth concerns um of course you know we're waiting for your guy jonathan brooks to get there in august and that'll be another body in there to compete with dude i'm excited for jonathan brooks i think he's going to be a special running back for us and that room's only going to improve in 22 and 23. so that's a wrap on running back we're looking solid there now let's get on to the old big boaz all right so kyle flood is in the house and o-line is a major topic amongst the fans i've heard it both ways that our o-line needs work and also that we look good there so which one is it what's the state of the offensive line and what is the current starting lineup at this moment yeah the offensive line is in a lot better shape than i think people realize uh because they saw the struggles uh for the vocal last season uh but once you saw these guys getting on on the move working horizontally you started to see creases open up and of course bijan is going to help him look better but there's a lot of talent for for the new coaching staff to work with and i think they're they're uh sort of going off those guys that would have been good at at alabama or had a chance to compete at alabama they're going kind of off traits uh more so off of uh off of the play on the field that they saw last year and that's best epitomized by christian jones being the current starting left tackle i say current because that subject's changed like all these are the depth chart is just sort of a loose template uh it's ever changing uh we're talking we're filming on saturday and it's already a different uh lineup that they had than they had earlier in the week uh so the depth doesn't um isn't as important as as the composite of all the traits that they have to work with and they have a lot more to work with than people realize um so you've got christian jones at left tackle uh sort of looks the part he's big uh he's physical uh he he does lack some uh technical refinement and that's why you see him get beat and pass grow but a strong physical and has all the tools to become a actually an early round draft pick if they can get them tuned in to left tackle and it's a big win for the staff uh at left guard it used to be junior angelo right now denzel locofour's working there he's a sixth year senior um still has problem with his pass sets but he has good length for guard and he's a good drive blocker he has a good chance to hold on to the left guard but that's not set in stone uh probably the only thing that's set in stone is jake major starting at center obviously you saw him play last year for an injured derrick kerstetter and he came in and played admirably he's quick off the ball he's some of that tackle quickness that you saw in his high school highlights that's coming across at center you have to be quick off the ball at center otherwise you get crushed he's able to make blocks that kerstetter wasn't because of that tackle athleticism i know curse betters played uh tackle but you know he's more of a grappler than he is a pure athlete um at right guard junior angelo settled in there for now there's a good chance he ends up there but that's not you know we don't know that for sure is a long way to play out he might end up back at the left side and he's going to get pushed even to be a starter just because and that's a good sign that there is depth here more depth than people realize uh then a right tackle today saturday that means isaiah hookfan was starting today but earlier in the week it was andre carrich hook hookfan is another guy that if he was on alabama roster you wouldn't be able to tell him apart from a starter or a depth guy he just looks apart he's big athletic um the thing that he has going for him is he's athletic enough to redirect after getting beat um and that's something you really have to have especially in the league that's that's kind of keyed up on the pass rush so those are your starters right now but again you know that's started changing and it's uh it's not even worth really hanging your hat on it uh as far as this being set in stone it's going to change a lot there's actually probably more talent at guard than what's starting you know you talk about tyler johnson again he looks the part i ran into him at buffalo wild wings in the ninth grade nobody had ever heard of him and i thought he was a senior in high school he looks like an alabama offensive lineman he's athletic enough to be an alabama offensive lineman kyle floyd just needs to sort of harness that uh beast and get him out and get him get some of that dog coming out of him that you have to have you know he's got justin blaylock's size and athleticism but you know does he have that mentality um so you know if he's not in your starting five uh that tells you that there's actual ability you know he was playing great last year uh in the bowl game making reach blocks that typical guards can't make so i mean they're in a good spot offensive line that's just you know the first six how's andre carrick looking today he's back working left tackle uh behind christian jones uh so they're looking to find that the tackle depth that they need need at least three guys you know a true left tackle and then swing guy and a right tackle there's a good chance that he ends up starting and christian jones ends up on the right side uh ideally christian jones zones up on the left side and then have a really high floor over on the right side if christian jones can beat out andre carrick on the left side uh kyle flood's earning his money right off the bat carrick has a good chance to be a right tackle but carrick also has enough fight and anger in his game to play guard and he could be a fantastic guard uh it could be a good tackle fantastic guard his only issue is arm um you know he's not a guy that's going to be able to pass you the potatoes at the dinner table uh but if he gets up out of his chair he's mean quick feet technical um so he's a really good player he's got i really thought was under value coming out of high school and of course we are anticipating the return of derek kerstetter after his injury where does he fit into the mix yeah kerstetter's still rehabbing from his uh you know very ugly injury uh late last season uh you know he needs to get right get healthy but there's a lot of value in him not being in uh out there right now to the staff staff can groom these younger guys and then they can kind of plug in derek wherever they they feel he's most needed uh if they have tackle spots situated then he's going to have to fight a guard uh you know worst case scenario is he's a backup role player but that would that would tell you a lot of positives about the offensive line the fact that you can't just plug in guarantee derek kerstetter a starting spot is proof that this offensive line is improving it's exciting to hear that the offensive line is looking good we can finally start to get rid of some of the narratives that the o-line is the weak link and i'm gonna have my eyes glued on all those positions throughout camp but that's a wrap with o-line are you ready to get into the wide receivers and slot receivers i was reading your humidor on inside texas the other day and i saw that we aren't really doing wide receiver positions at this moment so no x z or slot just inside and outside receivers can you elaborate a little bit on that yeah under herman you know it was pretty rigid uh he was looking for the prototype x as your boundary receiver uh the speed guy's your z guy uh and then you know the slot reliable guy you know he had a different version of the slot uh i call them the slot machine which is kind of that running back build uh they're strong after the catch they can break a tackle uh deborah duvernay fits that even though he was six four little jordan humphrey fits that uh it's not exactly the ou type of slot which i call a vertical slot uh which you know you're gonna probably see uh sarkeesian want to use more but sarkeesian isn't as hung up on those fits uh for tom herman you had to be a six foot five boundary receiver like colin johnson uh the z was just a speed guy that you want out there to take safety help and open up the middle uh sarkeesian just wants the best guys out there that get up and catch the ball uh and you know that's what he's working at you know some guys prototype better too uh other fits uh some fits than others and then you're gonna try them there first but you know as evidenced by jordan whittington playing at the x which is the boundary receiver that we saw calling johnson play for a long time he's not hung up on these prototypes that's interesting that whittington is playing on the outside what's the deal with slot receivers now that jake smith is out does whittington end up moving back inside yeah so the move of jake smith breaking his foot first day of practice uh that's definitely going to probably shake things up you know jaden alexis is a challenge a true freshman but is he ready to play there in prime time probably not so i i could definitely see jordan whittington going over the slot which is where he played and he fits that slot machine thing i was just telling you about uh where he's got that running back ability after the catch he's definitely a guy that's dangerous uh why he wasn't getting you know three crossing routes every game last year i'm not sure but he has to stay healthy of course he looks leaner which is definitely going to uh probably help him you know not have those soft tissue injuries he's had in the past uh big season for him but yeah he's probably going to move the slot and then you've got kai money there he's still getting reps in practice which upsets the fan base but uh stark's managerial style is to not come in and upset the apple car he wants to see for his own eyes uh which guy should be where he's not just going to bench a guy just you know because fans don't like him or whatever uh so jane alexis is probably a guy to watch to make noise he fits sort of that slot machine and vertical slot template i was talking about he's got long speed to get over the top but he's also strong after the catch and that shouldn't be too surprising his dad was rich alexis played running back in the nfl for a long time also i think he's auditorium of his class so he's going to pick up the offense rather quickly uh so yeah you want to get you want to get jake back and healthy that's not going to happen anytime soon jordan winnington come in and play that role capably he might even be better than jake long term who knows dude there's no better slot machine in the land than someone actually named kai money so but i actually want to circle back to jordan whittington originally being on the outside how's he doing as an outside receiver that's super interesting to me yeah well he's got good hands and he can get open he can run good routes uh the first time you know when he was he came on the scene as a freshman in high school he also already looked like a senior in high school physically uh had him pegged as a safety all the way sort of like a brandon jones type then i wouldn't watch them run routes and was blown away uh and so you know you look for the different ways to create separation uh some guys do it with size some guys do it with speed some guys deal with route running he can do it with quickness and route running uh and over in the boundary uh when you're trying to convert third and eight you don't care how the separation comes about if you can get it throw it to him catch it he's reliable he's tough uh he'll convert so he does have some of those attributes that that you want at x even though he doesn't look like that skyscraper that you're used to seeing over there under tom herman all right so we're seeing joshua moore and kelvonte dixon as z most likely with alvante woodard and marcus washington backing up the x most likely so how are the top wide receivers looking yeah so if you're looking at some of those guys with more outside uh kelvante dixon he can actually play inside without a doubt uh but i i liken him to billy pittman coming in in the into texas he's got that long speed over the top that you like uh we saw evidence of that late in the season um he's a better route runner than people realize he might have been the second best uh best wide receiver on the team last year at least in practice you can talk to uh former coaches so there's a lot of talent there to work with i expect to see him quite a bit this season he's got a chance for a breakout spring for sure uh alvante woodard he's the other statesman uh you know great great dude uh great teammate uh does have some ability hasn't really gotten his chance you know when he's out there he's made some plays might not have that long speed that he was he was rated highly for coming out of high school uh but he's pretty reliable he's tough after the catch does he does what's asked of them uh reliability is an underrated trait for a wide receiver you're going to be at the right spot at the right time if so you're probably open um so you know there's a good chance that that he has a breakout senior season we've seen it before uh you know uh john harris had a huge one a few years back uh guy came out of nowhere and really really produced not saying he'll have a breakout year like that but you know i wouldn't sleep on him especially if there's opportunity he's going to be ready to uh to jump in the mix how's marcus washington looking yeah marcus is another one of those that we're actually the outside receiver with with no x or z attached to it makes sense you know because i do think he has a speed to play outside in to the field uh but he's you know his best position is going to be x and again he's another example of not needing somebody tall uh to play the position as long as you can get open catch the ball uh you know that's the open receiver is a quarterback's best friend and that could be marcus um if jordan winnington moves over to the slot it's going to open up more reps uh for marcus uh long term he's probably going to be your number two behind o'meary oh you just said the magic words to the fan base troy o'meary how are things progressing behind the scenes with troy yeah troy uh you know troy troy's troy's got high football character he wants to be great um he's he's kind of attacked his rehab in in a manner that you'd expect from that statement i just made um yeah he's he's already kind of an urban legend because of the the spring he had last year uh but you know when i really bought into him was really his senior year was was really good but when i saw him separating from good cornerbacks that texas with speed not just size that's what really caught my eye great hands attacks the ball huge wingspan huge catch radius but better long speed that long speed gives him significant upside uh more than i had anticipated um so it looks like some of those bigger clemson wide receivers that you've seen in the past is a healthy troy in the starting lineup oh yeah if he's healthy he's gonna yeah i mean he's gonna be probably your ex again i'm over here you know laying waste to these stereotypes with the tall x wide receiver but troy could pull it off he's not just uh he's not just a target guy that's going to post up a smaller defender he's going to go over the top as well awesome and also you know what his hands are really good so you know you could probably see him in the rpo game they might move them around a lot uh hit them on a tunnel screen if they don't if the goal is to pick up six you know they want to convert first down you can do that with them awesome dude are there any other wide receivers we need to keep an eye on for a potential breakout season uh kennedy lewis is one that you know uh when you see size and speed uh he's pretty intriguing you know he's running great track times as a senior in high school was a little raw he's had some issues with staying eligible uh but if he's back and healthy and plugged in he could surprise people um you know all gas no brakes means that they're going to throw it deep a lot and that you know you need guys that can get open uh who can who can run a vertical and beat gbs uh kennedy is one of the few guys that can do that right now cool we're definitely gonna have to keep our eye on the wide receiver room and kind of see how everything shake out but we definitely have some guys on there that could help us a lot in stark's new scheme so we're done with the receivers both outside and inside so let's move on to my favorite position group the tight ends first things first i know the fans want this answered fairly quickly we currently have kate brewer as first string and jerry wiley as the second string with malcolm epps at three what can we expect out of this position battle willy coming out on top yeah this is definitely one to watch um you know stark isn't nearly as quite as reliant on having a single body at tight end uh you know tom herman was wanting to leave brewer out there for the myriad roles that he asked for in line flexed out motioning around stark is going to be more inclined to find who can do each individual job the best you saw alabama using you know three tight ends uh inline guy an all-purpose guy and more of a flex athlete texas has that assembly maybe not the inline guy that he had he had a glorified offensive lineman at alabama but i really like wiley to be the guy that gets the most reps he fits what uh 87 was doing at alabama last year uh he's vertical uh he's athletic he's a huge matchup problem because he's so tall you know he's a legit six six six seven guy uh he's a good athlete as evidenced by him running in the open field last year um you know i thought that was you know tom deserves probably some uh anger over how he used uh the tight end last year but also a a lot of props for uh finding jared wiley and going after him because he was a very unheralded prospect so let's not dump on tom too hard there but you found this guy tom go ahead and play him uh you know uh that's i really like his number 12 at bama i think his number was uh billingsley uh more of a flex guy and they're going to bring him in and ask him to do what he he can do not they're not going to bring him in ask him do something he can't do uh you know the concern there with eps is i believe he graduates in may uh you know there's been some rumor in the past that he might look to go elsewhere uh but hopefully this reinvigorates him i think tom had an idea what to do with him he's just too rigid to get to the second page of his playbook to actually open up epps but epps has some real value uh operating out of the slot uh and he's a pretty good blocker on the little guys not a good blocker defensive ends but you know use those length on a on a smaller player and he can own that guy so there's there's some there's some good parts here uh brewer's still gonna play a little bit he's versatile uh you can do some things with them uh he's probably a better option in 12 personnel rather than eleven personnel and sark mentioned two of our early and rolly tight ends and gunner helm and juan davis at his press conference and i like both of those kids a lot and they are tied for the four spots so what's the word on these two yeah helm is uh one that has been uh he's been impressing people with his work ethic and his fluidity as a route runner at his size he's a really big kid legit 6'5 he's kind of in the wily mold where he can do a little bit of everything it could potentially be a really good tight end juan you know there's not a lot of high school tape out there on one it's hard to know what he is uh we know that he's a well-coordinated guy he's put on a lot of muscle in a short time uh to get there i was it was equipped to me that the traps might be the highest point on his body so he's taken to the weight room well um and he's going to have some of the best hands on the team regardless of position um he can go and get it uh but you know i think i would see him more in h back roll uh whereas uh sort of where how brewer specs out um and then you've got hell more more like wiley so you have a bright future with those guys uh and then we'll see what they do with jachaean sanders when he gets there it's going to be a pretty crowded room and we have braden lybrock waiting in the wings too what's what's the deal with braden he's out with a shoulder injury uh he's a guy that could uh he could be that flex guy uh sort of like epps you know that wonderful hands great route runner um you just want those guys to be a serviceable blocker and then you can uh get them out on the field all right final tight end question is tight in the deepest position on the entire squad um i think i would have to go with corner actually for one year and one year only uh unfortunately but right now just because the the talent at corner is also all gonna be drafted uh but tight end as for the college game what they're trying to do uh yeah you know tom herman would have loved to have this uh room earlier in his tenure it's really weird that you know he took uh he took projects at tight end when he was so uh relying on him i'll never understand that yeah man it's hard to see the rationale in a lot of that but that's a wrap for offense so that's awesome man so let's zoom out a little bit and give an overview to the fans of like what the new offense will look like in the coming months yeah i mean summing up what the offense uh is looking to do or the pieces that they have there's the chance to have a really explosive offense that's going to be started off by the uh by the run game in what i think will be an improved offensive line not just because bijan makes them look look better but because they are improving and the pieces are in place and then you've got the quick action in the quarterback passing game to rpo that will need a slot receiver a reliable slot receiver to develop so you can run sort of that triangle between the quarterback the running back in the slot lots of bodies of tight end uh there's some outside receivers that uh that can that can break out because all the other things that are happening in in and near the box they stand to benefit from having a man coverage you're going to have to have these guys take advantage of these opportunities i think they're going to have those players and i think it's going to be a good offense overall uh but but the key is bijan bijan get that running game open everything else becomes a lot easier yeah man listening to sark it sounds like bhajan is gonna be his weapon x so it's gonna be a lot of fun and that's a wrap on oh so now let's go over to the defensive side of the ball a lot of unique things happening on that side of the ball and pk has a new scheme to implement as well we have some new position types so watch my pk defensive strategy video if you're unaware of these changes and you'll be able to understand it so let's get right into the big boys on the defensive line so let's start with the nose position nose plays in the a gap in what is referred to as a one technique just as a little refresher for the fans how are things looking at nose with keiondre coburn and tavondre sweat yeah so the defensive line has a lot of bodies of course there are some questions because not everybody's healthy the known there the constant is coburn which we use as a standard of a weight measurement on inside texas one one coburn is whatever uh country covenant weighs that day uh right now is around 340 or so um so he's a nose tackle quintessential guy for that squatty powerful quick uh surprising motor that runs hot his duty cycle uh gets a little out of whack because he plays so hard uh but you know the value there is there's depth so you know you can go play hard as hard as you can for six snaps and then get spotted by somebody like andre sweden who suffers from the same thing it can also be a standard usual measure of weight um sweat is limited uh sark had said that he's out for the spring he's not technically entirely out he's out there and participating in the walk-through types type things he will be limited when he won't be out there when the pads come on two fantastic guys for that uh that position sweat is a guy that has been said from uh staff sources would be a guy that gets reps at alabama uh just to give you an idea of the upside there there's a little hassan ridgeway to him you want to see him play uh more like coburn uh you know want that motor running hot at times it was ridgeway taking place off and malcolm brown that was that was kind of providing all the effort uh if sweat plays with with constant effort he's going to be a all-conference type of player so you know the nose tackle or the one tech that that position's in good shape with guys being injured you are seeing alfred collins is going to play some one tech uh which makes a lot of sense more so in passing downs uh sawyer gorham welch has been uh playing at one tech as well uh he's more of a three tech but you know you do what you got to do with with guys uh who are banged up good stuff man and once again for the fans defensive tackles playing the b gap which is known as a three technique or a three tech for short so don't get confused three tech just means defensive tackle so how are the defensive tackles looking i really like our guys at dt alfred collins will be the starter there there's no question about that with him out or at least limited with his wrist injury uh vernon broughton has stepped in uh vernon is one of the best interior pass rushers the team has staff is very excited about him it's great feat great mobility uh that basketball you know he's supposed to be a basketball star in eighth grade everybody thought he's gonna be an nba player uh then he quit growing at six five so that's when he switched to football but he still has that both basketball feat tremendous upside because he's never really had strength conditioning uh like he's getting now um sort of on a longer developmental curve than alfred but tons of upside uh he could play three tech one tech he can actually even play uh the jack roll if they if they had to you know maybe if they were going with the heavier set uh goal line short yardage uh talented talented guy behind him was uh mauro ojomo uh ojimo played defensive end he was sort of miscast last year but he did it for the team and actually started to play well uh he's your penetrating three tech type you're not going to ask him to take on blockers you're going to ask him to knife through you know i think he's probably old enough to vote now which you know congrats to you moral but just good player good program guy um and so they have a lot of bodies you know i'm probably leaving out people if they've got so many uh in the interior uh so this is definitely something it's it's a bit of a embarrassment of riches that pk has to work with uh and these guys kind of do what he's trying to do too our interior defensive linemen are going to be a huge strength for us this year and we have uh two new position types in pk's defense that replace the traditional defensive ends they are called the jack and the x backer so what are we looking for in the x backer position and who's starting there yeah the ex factor is basically the joseph foster position from last year uh it's a pass rushing outside linebacker that also has zone drops of times uh ray thornton is coming in uh from lsu who you know that was always the evaluation for him coming out of school uh at a clean was his position uh he bounced around a little bit of lsu uh very he's a team guy he you know played some three check even for uh lsu which is entirely out of position for a guy that weighs 245 pounds but that tells you his toughness and also tells you that he has some lower body strength to him um you know these guys the staff is preaching professionalism uh and i think ray kind of exudes that from what i've heard um come in ready to work try to be a leader without overstepping your boundaries being new uh but he has the athleticism to at least test these tackles uh that the tackles need need to test you know uh we don't know if if the offensive line is getting better or phrase ray's getting better they're you know they kind of offset each other but at least they have somebody a veteran with strength to go up against uh so he's probably gonna be your starting ex uh behind him is prince dorba uh dorba has a lot of talent he's uh he's had some good practices um this is definitely his time to come up and uh and earn some snaps uh because you know he's gonna play quite a bit this year even if ray is the starter uh oh you said another magic name in uh prince dorba that's another fan favorite so what's the word on doorbell behind the scenes yeah you know george was probably a bit more athletic than thornton as pass rusher and you know more athletic as a zone dropper in space he's also smaller and not quite as long so you know your change of direction skills are typically going to be better you're not going to hold up against a run as uh as strong as a more mature thornton uh but he he does have some past pass rushing upside you know you might see him you know in the smaller package they've got i think they've even said it publicly they've got a nitro package uh that that would be where you probably see doorbells as your starting x cool now let's go to the other side of the defensive line for the jack position the jack is a bigger player than the x backer and he's more concerned with run stopping and being disruptive in the pass rush i know jacoby jones is at one and i thought ojamo would back him up but he said he's that defensive tackle now so how's jacoby jones looking at jack yeah well this is this is the this is well deserved by jacoby jones you know he was sold at you know when he flipped from ou he was sold his playing defensive end uh in a four-man front and then orlando properly uh properly stuck him at 4i which he was ill-suited for then he got to play defensive end uh last year he started to play better uh after overcoming some personal issues that were out of his control um he really started to play a lot better towards the end of the season and you know ojumbo did as well clearly those guys were starting to be coached up um now he's got to be thinking he's in heaven i get to play a stand-up outside linebacker role which is still still more defensive than anything else uh but they're definitely going to try to get him past rushing he's got good hands uh good feet uh and you know there's a good chance he leads the team in sacks next uh next season do we have a potential number two player at jack well you know that's very thin uh it's a thin position dating back to the fact that they were going uh they were using four eyes so when when you go to a four-man front uh you're lacking the bodies that you're looking for they finally got the four eyes that they needed uh in in alfred collins and vernon broughton and then you know they were they were out headed to usc um so behind uh behind uh uh jacobi right now is jeb bush who they moved from jack move from x to mike and now over to jack just because they're so thin you know that it tells you all you need to know about the transfers coming in you know uh ovi uh oguefo sorry if i messed his name up from notre dame and then also ben davis from alabama the staff expects to get all right that's a wrap for defensive line and thanks for clearing up a lot of that for me man that was super helpful so now we're gonna go into linebackers and we're only going to have two linebackers generally on pk's new defense the middle linebacker known as a mike linebacker and the weak side linebacker known as a will linebacker so let's talk about mike first we know that demarvion overshone is our top linebacker but he's out with a shoulder injury so who's up next at middle linebacker yeah overstone unfortunately they discovered a torn labrum uh recently and he's gonna he's gonna miss spring uh very unfortunate for him uh luckily he got his feet wet a position last year and we're you know clearly he got a lot more comfortable as the season wore on it's a big loss for the spring you want him to get in the familiarity reps with uh pk's new defense you want to get him used to all the calls and uh you know playing in the proper position finally we're seeing a mic you know it's not not as you've broken down expertly uh the mike isn't uh playing in the box as much playing on the field if you ever saw malik jefferson playing in the boundary uh when your fastest defensive lineman getting absorbed in the boundary instead of playing out in space and drove me crazy uh here's our chance to enjoy uh rejoice a little bit uh over shown as a supreme athlete we'll be able to play in space but he's out uh in his places david benda benda you know might be if you put him in a straight line as fast as overshowing at least close to it uh he's a good athlete definitely starting to get more comfortable out on the field towards the end of last year saw a lot of improvement over the course of last season he's got some significant athleticism to him and he's you know that's the number one thing dude can i meet the athletic baseline requirements of that position in bendecan uh behind him is jaden holby holy came in with uh there was a lot of uh excitement about him last august uh you know along with ford we were hearing about holiday as well uh go watch him play a high school quarterback and run down the sidelines and you can see some serious uh bursts with him uh he's a good athlete good upside you know they recruited him to play h back and my first eval on him was yeah you might want to look at him at linebacker because linebackers are a lot harder to find so i'm excited to see what he can bring to the field even though overshown's out these guys are going to get a chance to grow and improve with more reps they wouldn't get otherwise and our second linebacker is the will linebacker so what's the depth chart looking like there jalen ford at one and where's john mitchell in the mix yeah jaylen ford came in and pressed last august chad actually had the fastest 10 yard split of all the linebackers which was a bit surprising for a guy that uh you know his his fit is inside true inside linebacker uh so that explosive uh downhill first couple steps is exciting to hear about right now he's the starting uh first string um you know he's got those instincts that you're looking for i'm not i'm not the greatest expert when it comes to diagnosing linebacker play because sometimes it's a little above my pay grade but you can see him making plays that a lot of guys wouldn't you know utah wanted him if you know how uh how how well drilled and schooled their defense event is their defense is um you know that's an exciting player to get that's the type of school you want to steal a recruit from juwan mitchell was second team in the first practice you know by the time you see this there might be other news out there on him uh you know we're not certain there jawon uh is an interesting character uh you know he just has to stick with it if he sticks with it he's got some talent he can run he can hit i think he's getting better at reading defenses but he's gonna have to stick with it and compete and behind him you've got uh marcus tillman uh tillman suffered an injury uh he's got uh his freshman year hasn't quite rebounded from that or at least he hasn't to this date uh but i think he's he's definitely looking more athletic than he had been at any time since the injury i think he's just a little bit more down the depth chart because he doesn't have practice footage uh for the coaches to go on so he's gonna have to earn his way up but that's what spring's about uh so let's not let's not forget about marcus stillman all right so we need to keep an eye on the linebackers with demarvion's return to mike and some volatility over at will so that's a wrap on linebackers so let's move on to our defensive backs there should be a lot of fun stuff going on here so defensive back is easily the most exciting group as far as position battles go and there's still a lot of dominoes left to fall so eric what can you tell us about our dbs this year yeah well if you're going to call yourself dbu you better have a lot of defensive backs to go around and texas does have quite a few this year they still have the leftovers from the 2018 class they want to call them leftovers holdovers uh from the 2018 class uh and then of course they've got uh the new transfer graduate transfer who could be a starting quarterback pretty much any country in the sp or any school in the country uh so there's a whole lot for uh for pk to work with and uh and terry joseph and blake gideon uh you know now it's just about getting all the guys in the right parts figuring out your rotation seeing who can do what uh and and getting them schemed up so corner has to be our best position battle right now on the entire team with desean shark jameson and josh thompson as the current starters with the twos our mcneese state transfer darian dunn and then keaton crawford so what can you tell us about this battle yeah cornerback man you got josh thompson and deshawn jameson uh coming back as starters after after i think they had good junior years you know cornerbacks do get beat fans tend to remember the beats uh more so than the wins those guys played pretty well last year especially in a tough conference uh in a new scheme but you know darien dunn comes in there's there's competition uh darien dunn might have the uh he might be the most prototypical corner on the roster as far as the nfl standards go uh you locked up tylan wallace a couple years ago which you know that's that's saying quite a bit texas hasn't had a corner that's been able to do that necessarily so there's going to be a spirited uh competition between those three they're all nfl athletes without a doubt uh jameson's quite the playmaker uh done sticky and coverage for and has good length and thompson's a hell of an athlete um this is going to have downward effects on the rest of the secondary i think because it you know if one of them uh loses out he might be the the best option at nickel and then let's not forget about keaton crawford keaton crawford i would uh bet the mortgage on him being a starting quarterback after this season um wide receivers hate going up against him he's physical talks a lot of trash he's got that east texas dog that you want to you want to hear about and so you know he's got upside and then he was like a 10-600 guy in high school too so he can run i've always likened him to terrell brown former longhorn uh played with my niners for a number of years uh got a lot of similar attributes so yeah cornerback is is pretty damn loaded in a conference where you where you have to be loaded it's gonna help the defense uh elsewhere um so we'll see we'll see if the the third corner ends up at nickel or or not nickel has its own little battle going on corner is going to be a lot of fun uh next up is field safety just a quick thing so field safety has to play in more space so he's the safety with the most range generally and you're gonna need to be quick to stay on a man in that much space so we have jaron thompson who is starting there currently and who's number two is it early enrollee jd coffee i know brendan schooler moved to that position so what's up there yeah jaron thompson came in late got his hands on a lot of passes uh definitely it shows that he's got good eye discipline good uh good instincts um it's basically what he looked like in high school the only reason that he wasn't coveted by every school in the country uh his top end speed um sometimes an overrated attribute uh you saw uh he kind of has attributes that that uh quinkowski had done well with at uh at uh washington um just love the player man he's hard-nosed uh physical uh good change of direction uh there's a lot of versatile things you can do yeah he lacks a little top end speed but he makes up with it by seeing uh by seeing the game in an advanced way uh jd coffee is very similar you know jd coffee i was you know comparing jd coffee to jaron thompson before jaren thompson was even signed i'm a fan of these guys um instincts are kind of a harder thing for the novice fan to pick up on i kind of include myself in that um yeah but when you see it you know it and those both those guys have it so they make up for that yeah they're not they're four six guys uh but they play four or four because of their their mental capacity and then brendan schooler what do you have like four picks there's 75 tackles as a freshman at oregon uh that's impressive uh even you know you can always say dylan haynes had four picks but i don't care if you're a true freshman or a freshman uh having four interceptions uh 75 tackles in the in the pac-12 you can obviously play obviously guy likes to run around uh he's pretty physical we saw he's pretty physical for a wide receiver so obviously physical on special teams as well um so yeah you know we'll see you know put him back there i don't think he's as good as jaron thompson but you know you like having guys back there that you can trust that are savvy football players and now we are on to the boundary safety and this safety has an emphasis on run stopping and he generally plays in less space so allowing them to be a little bit larger than the field safety and fans are going to have their eyes glued to this position because it's two fan favorites so first string boundary safety is actually bj foster well i'm really excited that bj foster is going to be in the same position back to back seasons um you know he played really well last year uh not necessarily a guy you want man coverage which is why boundary safety is good for him he's going to be hell and run support one of the most physical guys uh in the country uh maybe a little too physical at times and then not tasked with being a man coverage more of a cleanup hitter from deep uh where he's fantastic he still has the speed he's an enforcer back there and he's got good instincts he sees he understands football um you know i think he's i still think he's going to be a fantastic nfl player i have no idea what's going to happen to him this year i think he's going to play well but i think he's going to really break out in the nfl where just his athleticism his mentality his physicality are going to really be put to use in a consistent way so i'm a huge bj foster guy still i know he hasn't quite had the five star career that people want wanted or forced off but i think he's a football player and i think he's going gonna have a breakout season yeah man i hope this is the year that bj puts it all together because i also think he could be a really special player um and then another very exciting name and number two is tyler owens so i get asked about him all the time and i'm sure you do too so fans are super excited about them so what's the deal with tyler owens behind the scenes is he coming along yeah the previous staff wanted to move tyler owns the linebacker uh you know he uh he didn't want to do that um if there's a safety role that he can excel at it's probably this one you know some of the things i just said about uh bj foster translate to him uh if he wants to run ally and be physical that's going to be a good role for him but i really like him as a cleanup guy with that speed and at length you know it's more of a straight line position than uh some of the other defensive backs because you're playing uh everything is kind of in a straight line uh you're playing at an angle uh don't have to flip your hips as much and you know he's got the speed if he has the recognition now that could be a question if he has a recognition abilities uh then he can be you can actually excel in that role uh we're just gonna have to wait his turn bj foster of course like i said sometimes he's too physical for his own good he's only one hit away one that he gives to somebody else from putting himself out of the game uh but tyler i think that's the role where he can excel as a safety is if he's playing from deep um but again recognition is huge there but you know obviously he has a speed to make up for somebody else's mistake all right fans did you hear that i got your tyler owens uh question answered so no more tyler owens questions at least for one day so um and cool so finally we have the nickel position we have an exciting position battle here as well anthony cook is currently starting with chris adamura in second at this point so what you got for us there uh on on who can be our new nickel yeah the nickel the fifth uv uh sometimes the most important db a lot of different schemes different schemes are gonna use it in different ways you know for some people it's a corner for some guys it's a safety for for uh chris ash last year was more of a linebacker than anything else adam warren played it pretty well it was odd to see cook with the knowledge that ash wanted to use it more as a as the linebacker was odyssey anthony cook moved there you know the reason that cook moved was just because they prioritized speed at corner you know man scheme you got to be able to make up for a mistake at the line of scrimmage and they didn't think that cook had that uh necessary that that makeup speed and that was really the knock on cook coming out of high school which is why you know i didn't think that he was a five star when he was rated that high i actually had james said had to cook but he has fantastic feet fantastic coverage skills just doesn't have that makeup speed so now if you're looking at nikola as a third corner he's a fantastic candidate for that role so so you know i always talk about fit how does a player fit you know get these guys on the right fits well last year wasn't the right fit for him but right now it's his time now now it is the right fit for him and sarkeesian's already speaking highly of him after one practice so and that you know he has fantastic cover skills there's no doubt about that if they're asking him to cover more so than play force on the edge or in the run game then that's gonna that's gonna uh play to his his strengths more so than maybe adam morris now adam is a pure football player loved him coming out of high school great change in direction he's down about eight pounds uh you know he'll be down 10 pounds from where he played last year the question i'll have is if if it's truly a coverage position i expect anthony cook to win out what does that do to adam moore i think there's downhill effects there where maybe adam moore ends up competing with our guy jared thompson you know that could possibly happen i think cook is probably the leader just with our uh our feeling that it's gonna go to more uh coverage uh coverage type player and then you know fans will be able to see that yeah maybe it wasn't a five-star corner but you could be a fantastic knuckle and that you know nickel is hugely important in the modern game yeah so adam warren even if they do go to a coverage uh scheme for the nickel he he does have the change of direction skills and short area quickness that are going to help him out you don't want to see him carrying marvin mims jeep uh but you know he's definitely going to work over tight ends in coverage i mean he's got really he's got really good cover skills but more so towards the safety whereas cook has good cover skills more sore towards the corner and that's a wrap on d so any larger topics you want to address about the new defense give fans more of a bird's eye view of what we're looking to do there yeah the ultimate question is going to be the pass rush can you get that sorted out and that we won't know more about that until august uh and even it might be tough to learn about that before we head into the season just because it could be you know sort of the uh uh offsetting players you know we got is christian jones good or thornton good or you know we just won't know we won't know that till the season uh but we do know that they're going to have really good corner play uh at least relatively speaking to the to the conference um and that's going to make everything easier you know it's going to it's going to buy the defense more time defensive line more time to get to the uh to the quarterback they're gonna there's gonna be very tough to run against we know that because the interior players are gonna going to be movable if not downright devastating uh to block uh alfred collins is you know he's a top 10 overall draft pick waiting to happen coburn's movable sweats are movable so there's a lot of strength to scheme around tough up the middle makes things easier on the linebackers and then you have the coverage guys you have you have strength and coverage on the edges and that nickel and it's going to take some of the stress off of coverage duties for the safeties so there's there's a lot of good virtuous cycles here that you just would like to see them uh find a pass rusher to complement the coverage and a compromi complement the the penis in the middle all right we aren't done yet we still got to hit special teams and we know jeff banks is an elite special teams coordinator who's doing a lot of cool stuff in that phase of the game so what should we expect to see from banks and our special teams units in general yeah special teams is largely an effort and discipline thing and i expect effort and discipline uh from from these guys he is intense you give him 15 minutes to coach and he'll get an hour's worth of coaching in that's how fast he goes he's rapid fire uh i've talked to former players that he had at a m i talked to a former coach daddy coach with he said i don't know where he gets after things he does on special teams apparently he's pretty innovative when it comes to coverage and fakes and all these other things um so i expect special teams to be uh at least start to restore itself back to where you saw mac brown's uh teams uh in the 2000s making plays one can only hope brother right uh is it still looking like deshawn jameson is going to be the returner without a doubt he'll be the punt returner especially with the other issues that you know we address with the wide receiver uh jake smith is back up he's got a broken foot josh moore's out uh you know i don't know who else they put back their time money uh so maybe jane alexis but they'll have to find a backup but yeah it's jameson as long as he's healthy you know that guy i mean i've always compared him to a dory jackson uh that's who he reminded me of in high school uh and the only way you can be at dory jackson is if you're having puns and you know jameson's gonna have a big year also we have the new early enrollee punter from pro kick australia and isaac pearson uh when do you think he could challenge for the starting punter gig i haven't heard a thing about him yet you know bushes out so he's gonna have all the uh time in the world upon i'm just happy that he's here uh and practicing and assimilating uh when he doesn't necessarily have to be the starter you know they uh they threw dixon out there his first year he's got to be wondering what the hell is going on and then same with bushes he had no time to assimilate he's just out there and you know you see them make these boneheaded mistakes but you can't blame them you know i saw dixon i was at dixon's first practice and one would go 70 yards and the other would almost end up on i-35 it was it was crazy to watch and then of course you had those those infamous issues uh that year uh but yeah it's just good that he's over here uh you know a year before they need him for two years maybe good stuff man um any final words on special teams you know he's you know banks is very vocal you know i've got all these guys at alabama's first round draft picks are out there busting their ass on special teams so you are too uh and you know this texas uh these these players never really lack for that attitude um you know the the program has had its issues but the issues haven't been effort from the players or want to or being good teammates so i think that's going to resonate with them you're going to see starters out there trying to make plays on special teams and they're going to be out there competing you know they don't care you know they don't care if you're going in the first round or second round or whatever uh you're gonna be out there but the team that the players are cool with that that's how they want it all right brother man that that was absolutely awesome and i and i have a really good feel for the upcoming team thanks to you and i appreciate you stopping by the channel and i know the fans are really gonna love this one so uh that's a wrap for eric from inside texas any parting words eric yeah i appreciate you having me on had a good time always love talking horns uh you know such a rabid fan base so i'm excited for the fans to have this uh this new coaching staff in place excitement is renewed talented program talented players i look forward to covering it and can't wait to be back thanks again brother until the next one all right it's just me and you now so thanks for watching if you like what you see then check out my channel memberships make sure to head over to inside texas and stay up to date with all thing texas football watch some more of my videos here and don't forget to share this spring ball preview with other texas fans as always welcome [Music]

Channel: Texas Homer

Views: 22,741

Keywords: Texas Longhorns, Texas Longhorns Football, Texas Football, UT Football, Texas Spring Football, UT Spring Football, Steve Sarkisian, Bijan Robinson, Pete Kwiatkowski, Hudson Card, Casey Thompson

Id: Fm1a7Z8c6t8

Length: 58min 29sec (3509 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 02 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/TheTexasHomer]

Hey guys, checking back in with a new video. Covering the spring depth chart and going over each position.

[u/PaytonMemes]

amazing video

[u/Youredumbstoptalking]

Watched this a day or two ago, good stuff. I have listened to your sark and PK breakdowns multiple times. I think I’m higher on Adimora than most people, I think he was the most underrated DB in that stacked class and have faith that the new staff will recognize and use him to his fullest potential.