8 Texas players who warrant extra attention during Fall camp
Texas football players report for August camp on Tuesday to begin practice the following day. There will be countless storylines to follow with fans hanging on every available word in order to glean UT’s chances of winning the Big 12, and perhaps more.
We’ll get to those storylines in a couple of days, but before that let us focus on a few individuals who could foreshadow big things to come for the hungry program.
Texas returns a good amount of experienced players from last season’s 8-5 team, but as is customary in the new age of college football, there are a few immediate impact transfers new to the program as well.
WR Isaiah Neyor
Okay, he’s not new to the program, but the former Wyoming standout missed all of last season with a torn ACL suffered last August. Before that injury, Neyor was perhaps the best wide receiver on the team. He was a big loss in real time, but his importance to the offense became even more evident as the season wore on.
He’s worked extremely hard to rehabilitate his knee and is running and moving quite well. The big question over the next month will be, does he have any residual mental hurdles to overcome, or is he back to giving talented cornerbacks trouble? If it’s the latter, this is going to be an exceptional wide receiver corp with plenty of depth, versatility, and play-making.
S Jalen Catalon
Catalon was shelved for Spring ball but the practice bloc wasn’t useless as he received plenty of mental reps. The Arkansas transfer immediately fit into the program with his experience and work ethic proving to be a good addition.
Given his unfortunate injury history, will the coaches let him go full speed, or will he don the green non-contact jersey and be brought along slowly?
Personally, I would trade some rusty early season tackling for a healthy start to the schedule. Over the course of the next month we’ll see what the coaches elect to do.
OG DJ Campbell
To give an idea of Campbell’s talent, some actually rated him higher than starting Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks. With that ranking comes anticipation of being an early starter, but offensive line is a very difficult position to play early. Campbell is neither behind nor ahead of the developmental curve. For each player it’s different. What’s important is he’s showing improvement over last year where his play was a mixed bag of impressive raw ability and at times missed assignments. That comes with the territory, especially the younger a player is.
We should hear of continued improvement from Campbell in the lead up to the season. Not only does he have quality competition to play against on the other side of the line, he has quality competition in the form of 13-game starter Cole Hutson.
However it shakes out, I expect both Campbell and Hutson to play a lot this year, but Campbell does have intriguing upside that could give the inside run game a jolt.
LB Morice Blackwell
With good reason, much of the talk at linebacker centers around senior Jaylan Ford and true freshman Anthony Hill. We spent a good part of the Spring discussing senior David Gbenda‘s growth, but probably not enough about Morice Blackwell’s. He’ll push Gbenda in August and at minimum will play rotational snaps.
For this month, I’ll be curious to hear how well he plays the run between the hashes. Despite his limited size, he’s physical. But how fast is he processing and can he evade offensive linemen and still make plays?
RB Jonathan Brooks
I’m as excited about freshman running back CJ Baxter as anyone, but Brooks has been electric in his limited touches while at Texas. Yes, some of those looks have been in garbage time, but there’s no mistaking his burst and knack for finding space.
Due to the ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ aphorism there’s a decent chance the run game excels this year despite the loss of Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson. A pass-to-run offense with Quinn Ewers and significant receiving firepower should create room to highlight Brooks’ big-play ability.
Independent of the tailwinds the offense could provide Brooks, I’m curious about his durability and work capacity. Is he a 20 carry player? Fifteen? Ten? That’s a loaded room beyond the two aforementioned plus Keilan Robinson, Jaydon Blue, and Savion Red looking for touches. (Tre Wisner has impressed but I expect him to redshirt)
Steve Sarkisian has a lengthy streak of 1,000 yard rushers while he’s the play caller. Depending on Brooks’ viability as a workhorse that streak could end even if the run game is productive.
Edge Ethan Burke
The Austin Westlake native was one of my favorite prospects in the 2022 class but I also stated he’d require time to develop. As an expected second-year starter, that’s not exactly a lot of time to develop. Burke starting this year could be both good and bad — a good sign for his ability, but also not a great statement of where the roster is.
He has a very difficult task in practice going up against one of the best tackle pairings in the country. He’ll be better for it, but I’m not sure how much we’ll learn about what to expect this season based on practice intel. We’ll try anyway.
CB Terrance Brooks
He’s not the most physical (Ryan Watts) or fastest corner (Gavin Holmes) on the team but he’s the best blend. He’s improved mentally and technically since last year and he could be headed for a breakout season. He’ll certainly see his share of tests while facing one of the best receiving units in the country over the next month.
I know he has the physical and athletic tools, this month I’ll be listening to hear how consistent he is mentally and technically. If he proves reliable, the natural gifts will take over.
LB Anthony Hill
Everyone wants to turn him into a grown ass upperclassmen who roams the middle of the field and edges with equal comfort. I say we look at it like he’s a brand new restaurant. Rather than starting with a giant menu, give him a small one with just a few recipes to master. As he gains comfort, expand the menu.
The first recipe will be to cause havoc as a pass rusher. This month we’ll be listening for just how the staff plans to maximize the true freshman without overloading him mentally. The last thing you want to do is inject ‘paralysis by analysis’ into this very simple equation.
None of this is to say he won’t play Will this season, I suspect he will, but first and foremost they’ll focus on the team’s greatest need.
I foresee him playing Sam in base against 12-personnel, similar to Blackwell towards the end of last year, while also featuring as a 3rd down specialist.
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