Texas Football: 5 Longhorns Who Could Surprise People This Spring

The Texas Longhorns begin spring practice on March 25, hoping some unexpected gems will emerge to fill the gaps on the roster. Without them, Charlie Strong will have to play a lot of inexperienced true freshmen.

Strong's lost 10 starters from last season and has only six of his 28 commits on campus for spring ball. Until the rest arrive on campus, it will be tough to count on the summer enrollees to fill starting roles or even provide quality depth at this stage.

That means Strong and his staff will have to find help elsewhere from guys who are ready to make an impression.

Fortunately, there's some real talent and athletic potential poised to do just that.

OT Connor Williams

From a 3-star recruit to the starting left tackle? Early enrollee Connor Williams might just pull that off this spring.

A 6'5", 275-pound former tight end, Williams flew way under the radar in this class of tackles. He ultimately finished out his recruitment short of a 4-star rating, much to the dismay of Barking Carnival's Scipio Tex:

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Williams is all about pure athletic upside and ease. His flexibility and coordination jump off of the film. I'm not sure why people who are paid to evaluate don't understand that big-framed athletic guys who are "undersized" (oh no! he's only 255 as a junior in high school!) have no problem adding weight and when they do so, they generally become bigger athletic guys. This is not hard. Connor Williams will carry 295-300 pounds well and he'll do it soon.

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So far, that prediction looks pretty spot on. Charlie Strong told the media Williams is already "at 285 pounds and doesn't even look it" on signing day, which was about two weeks after the early enrollees arrived on campus.

Now that he's getting some real reps, Williams could really run away with a starting job. Given his athleticism, that first-team role projects to be the left tackle spot that struggled so much last season.

Williams has the potential to be a four-year starter. 

LB Peter Jinkens

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Jinkens has shown flashes of being a disruptive playmaker from the outside linebacker spot.

The Longhorns defense will miss a lot of talent and leadership now that Malcom Brown, Jordan Hicks and Quandre Diggs have all left for the NFL. Senior linebacker Peter Jinkens brings both.

Jinkens showed a lot of early promise as a freshman in 2012, starting three of the final four games, which he capped off with a monster performance in the Alamo Bowl win over Oregon State.

Since then, it's been up and down as Jinkens has failed to take the next step. Hicks' health in 2014 along with Steve Edmond's improvement made him a distant substitute to the two stalwarts, and he never recorded more than five tackles in a game.

Hicks and Edmond are now out of the way, along with four other starters. The Horns recruited one of the best groups of linebackers in the country in 2015, but it'd be bad news if any freshman other than Malik Jefferson had to assume an every-down role.

With 4.5 speed (per ESPN), good size and flashes of playmaking ability, Jinkens is a safe bet to step up as a senior.

DE Derick Roberson

The need to see Derick Roberson take the field as a freshman diminished when Texas sported one of the better defenses in the Big 12 last season. After taking a redshirt, he's set to remind us all why he was one the nation's best recruits in 2014.

Roberson raised some eyebrows when he arrived on campus at 219 pounds. He was already considered small for a defensive end when he was recruited at 235, so the slight frame indicated that he might take a few years to even see the field.

The recent revelation that he needed in-season shoulder surgery might explain the delay in Roberson's development. But whatever the case, the 4-star recruit has reversed course and is now back on track after tweeting that he's up to almost 240 pounds.

At that weight, Roberson is ready to push his way up the depth chart as soon as spring practice gets going. Per SB Nation's Wescott Eberts, this is a player who already possesses an array of pass-rushing moves with rare explosiveness off the ball.

With concerns regarding his size fading in the rear-view, a starting role is not far off for this immense talent.

WR Marcus Johnson

Potential breakout Marcus Johnson fell flat in 2014, as the junior recorded only 313 yards. That should change now that he's Texas' most experienced receiver.

Though he was the team's third-leading receiver, Johnson was a major disappointment last season. The 6'1" wideout never went over the 100-yard mark, and he scored only one touchdown as the distant third option to John Harris and Jaxon Shipley.

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Looking at the yards per target numbers for Texas. 10.3 for Harris (great), 6.7 for Shipley (bad), 5.5 for Marcus Johnson (awful).

@Ian_A_Boyd, 4 Dec 2014

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Still, this is a talented player with good feet and explosive downfield ability that allowed him to average 15.6 yards per catch in 2013. There's real talent here, even if he's not No. 1-receiver material.

Johnson had high praise for Jerrod Heard back in December. Perhaps a switch to the redshirt freshman will be all that's needed to break Johnson loose as a senior.

WR Garrett Gray

Many of Texas' wide receivers possess more polish and true receiving skill than Garrett Gray. None of them can match his athletic upside, though, and that will allow him to make some noise this spring.

Based on size alone, Gray would stand out in almost any program because of his 6'5" frame. He's a big, rangy target with a basketball background that allowed him to make a smooth transition to football as a high school junior.

But what really sets Gray apart, and sets his ceiling so high, is his ridiculous 4.4 speed at that impressive size. Guys this big just aren't supposed to move like that.

When Gray takes advantage of these physical gifts is anybody's guess. He only has three years of football under his belt, so the learning curve and jump in competition from a level he physically dominated could make for a long process.

That said, the redshirt freshman has probably another year of hard work before he's ready to unload his athletic gifts on Big 12 corners. But he will flash this spring as his coaches and fans alike get excited for what's to come.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats and information courtesy of TexasSports.com and 247Sports.