Texas Football: Position-by-Position Preview of the Longhorns' 2015 Roster

Entering the 2015 offseason, the Longhorns have the same problems, namely at quarterback, they've had the past five seasons. Except this time around, they'll be forced to deal with a youth movement on top of everything else.

Texas lost nine starting seniors this offseason along with junior All-American Malcom Brown. As much as this team struggled last season, those players were the main reason the Horns overcame a wildly inconsistent quarterback and a patchwork offensive line to reach a bowl.

Now those guys are gone, taking six defensive starters out of the picture without much depth in place to ease the transition. Instead, a class of 29 newcomers will have to shoulder a heavier burden than should typically be expected.

The Longhorns are in a position where a lot has to go right for them to succeed while they rebuild and reload. Head coach Charlie Strong will really need the quarterback and offensive line to get it going.

Quarterback

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The sooner Texas hands the keys to Heard, the better.

The quarterback battle between Jerrod Heard and Tyrone Swoopes has been the story of Texas' offseason. It will remain so until the coaches finally feel comfortable with Heard.

Swoopes, the veteran, began the offseason with a clear lead. He has 12 more starts than any other quarterback on the roster and has some decent potential thanks to prototypical size and a big arm.

The thing is, every glimpse of that potential feels like it never happened, because Swoopes bombed so hard at the end of last season. His pocket presence is problematic, he's inaccurate deep down the field and he isn't fast enough to consistently make plays with his feet.

On the other hand, we know Heard has always been able to do the latter. And after some work with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, he's starting to develop some real quarterbacking traits.

"I told him yesterday coming off the field that the single most important thing that's happened to this football team was his improvement," Watson said back in April, per TexasSports.com. "He had a great winter and we spent a lot of time together."

As Texas moves toward the spread, Heard's ability to hurt defenses with his arm and feet give this offense serious upside. After failing to score more than 10 points in five games last season, that's the type of player you run with.

Behind these two will be summer enrollee Kai Locksley, whose father is Maryland offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. So while Locksley was considered a receiver by ESPN, he comes in with a pretty strong understanding of collegiate offense. With a redshirt season, he could really turn into something.

Running Back

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When fully healthy, Gray has the potential to cruise past 1,000 yards on the ground.

It's getting close to a decade since a Longhorn running back has broken 1,000 yards in a season. Johnathan Gray has a great chance to end the drought as a senior while working in tandem with a few talented youngsters.

Gray has proven upside in this offense. In 2013, he was easily on pace to hit quadruple digits before tearing his Achilles, which ended up slowing him down until midway through 2014. 

Once he got it going, Gray looked like one of the Big 12's better backs, using elite quickness and acceleration to get fans excited for his senior season. He looked just as good during his brief spring game action, and the improved offensive should put him on track for a career season.

But at 5'11" and 200 pounds, Gray can't do all of the work on his own. He'll need a power back to soften the middle of the defense and set him up for the home run.

That's where 230-pounder D'Onta Foreman and 240-pound freshman Chris Warren come in. Foreman romped for 84 yards on 12 carries in the spring game, running through tackles and even showing off some wheels once he hit daylight. Warren, an elite 4-star recruit, has the same upside when he gets his chance.

Rounding out the position is redshirt freshman Duke Catalon, with summer enrollees Kirk Johnson and Tristian Houston behind him. Catalon has a Darren Sproles-type role in his future and would split carries with one of the big backs if Gray were to go down with another injury.

Still, keep an eye on Johnson. His tape is much better than his recruiting ranking, and he put up some elite numbers at the Oakland NFTC last summer.

Wide Receiver and Tight End

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Foreman has emerged as Texas' most talented receiver since the end of last season.

Texas has a full-blown mess with its receivers and tight ends. There's not a lot of experience at either position, but the Horns have a lot of talent to choose from if they can figure out how to get the pieces to fit.

In a year, they're going to really love this group.

Starting with the sure bets, Armanti Foreman is a lock for the starting lineup. He emerged as Texas' most explosive receiver last season with the ability to slice his way through defenses and haul in the deep ball. He can play in the slot or on the outside, so rest assured that Texas will find a way to keep him on the field.

It's also difficult to imagine a receiving corps that doesn't feature Marcus Johnson, the lone senior of the group. We've seen him churn out big plays of his own, and he's capable of being really good if he can consistently finish catches.

From here, all bets are off. Spring-practice star Dorian Leonard will fight spring-game star Lorenzo Joe for an outside job until the end of fall camp. Whoever wins that one would be in line for the now-departed John Harris' outside role, so expect them each to act like these next three months will define their careers.

In the slot, Jacorey Warrick turned in another good spring, while Daje Johnson might have fumbled away some good will in the Orange-White Scrimmage. We could also see all-purpose terror Ryan Newsome overtake both of these notoriously inconsistent upperclassmen.

Tight end is even less clear. Andrew Beck and Blake Whiteley looked like the only legitimate options entering the spring, then the coaches ran out fullback Alex De La Torre at the position.

With that move, the coaches showed that they want somebody who can line up both as a traditional tight end and out of the backfield. That should open the door for freshman DeAndre McNeal, who has H-back size (6'2", 228 lbs) with slippery moves in the open field. 

None of this takes into account John Burt, Gilbert Johnson or Devonaire Clarington, who each have the raw talent to flip the switch before the end of the year. New receivers coach Jay Norvell has his work cut out for him.

Offensive Line

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A year after they were thrown into the fire, the offensive linemen should be much more comfortable with each other in 2015.

With basically everyone returning from last season's offensive line group, Texas just needs to a find a suitable right tackle and build some depth to turn in a big season.

As noted by Grantland's Matt Hinton, any good offensive line needs chemistry. When a guy doesn't trust what's happening on either side of him, things are going to get ugly.

That's what happened to the Longhorns last season when they jettisoned tackles Desmond Harrison and Kennedy Estelle, then lost senior center Dom Espinosa to injury. Down a starting center and left tackle, it's no wonder the Horns allowed 28 sacks.

Texas never settled on a right tackle last season, but the other four positions are set with Marcus Hutchins, Sedrick Flowers, Taylor Doyle and Kent Perkins. With a full offseason to figure each other out, mixing in a right tackle should be no problem for the coaches.

Luckily, a future NFL talent has fallen into their laps. Early enrollee Connor Williams, a 3-star recruit, blew people away this spring and earned the start in the spring game. And since he's been around since January, he has plenty of time to gel with his teammates up front.

Tristan Nickelson and Brandon Hodges, both JUCO enrollees who enrolled early with Williams, will be the first guys off the bench. Hodges has already seen time basically everywhere, and Nickelson's raw power at 6'8", 317 pounds would be a big help at either tackle spot.

The Horns still have work to do on their future offensive front, but they should be much better this season. That is, as long as the injury bug doesn't strike again.

Defensive Line

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Doing the little things could make Ridgeway a full-fledged star in 2015.

Even without Malcom Brown, the defensive line will be Texas' calling card as the foundation of its defense.

Fourth-year junior Hassan Ridgeway is ready to become a star. He was second only to Brown with six sacks during his breakout 2014 season, and his 11 tackles for loss were good for fourth on the team.

Now possibly the best player on the entire team, we have to see more consistent effort than a year ago. Brown also stuffed the stats with quarterback hurries and fumbles, and we need to see some of that before Ridgeway enters any all-conference conversations.

Alongside Ridgeway will be senior Desmond Jackson thanks to his experience and leadership, but we'll see a ton of both Poona Ford and Paul Boyette. These two tore up the first-team offensive line in the spring game, with Boyette holding the point of attack while Ford burst into the backfield.

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Paul Boyette working at the nose tackle position for #Texas. Poona Ford making plays as a pass rusher because of his quickness. #hookem

@BON_SBNation, 15 Apr 2015

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Off the edge, it's good to see that Naashon Hughes is still a long way from hitting his ceiling. After going from redshirt to starter on a defense with five seniors, he was unblockable in the spring game and looks more sure of himself. As noted by 247Sports' Kevin Flaherty, he has unbelievable athletic ability.

On the strong side, Strong called Bryce Cottrell "the surprise of the spring" on defense, and he should have a stranglehold on the job entering the summer. Quincy Vasser and Shiro Davis will battle for backup duties, where Vasser's size should give him the edge.

The big question with this group is whether former top recruit and pure pass-rusher Derick Roberson can make his way onto the two-deep. He's been dogged by a shoulder injury since the end of last season but would be a solid situational threat if he could get physically up to speed.

Linebacker

Everyone wants to see Malik Jefferson, the future cornerstone of Strong's defense. However, this season will depend on someone from the old guard stepping up.

Jefferson is worth every bit of the hype, proving there would be no learning curve with six tackles (one for loss), a pass breakup and a forced fumble that was returned for a touchdown in the spring game. There's no doubt he will be a starter as a freshman.

Still, Jefferson is a freshman, and even the most talented freshmen make mistakes.

Until he and redshirt Edwin Freeman take their licks, the Longhorns need one of Dalton Santos or Peter Jinkens to step up and lead. Santos makes the most sense as a true middle linebacker, but Jinkens' superior speed could give him the edge.

Either way, this group will look way different than it did a year ago. In 2014, the entire defense relied on Jordan Hicks and Steve Edmond to be assignment-sound on every play. These Horns won't have that, which is going to be a difficult adjustment.

The hope is that Jefferson, Freeman and the incoming freshmen can add an attacking element that will make up for their deficiencies.

Cornerback and Safety

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Senior corner Duke Thomas will have to shoulder a heavy burden in 2015.

The secondary will be the thinnest group on the team, where even one injury could yield disastrous results.

Texas' projected starting lineup looks fine on paper. We already know Duke Thomas, Dylan Haines and Jason Hall all belong on the field, and at least two of them should contend for All-Big 12 honors. John Bonney also looks like the next star nickel corner, and incoming freshman Holton Hill is a perfect fit for Strong's press coverage.

But serious problems will arise if one of these guys gets hurt. The Horns are extremely shallow at corner, where Thomas is the only one who has logged more than one start. Bonney also doesn't have a definite backup, and the options at safety are either a freshman or underachiever Adrian Colbert.

That's not to say the freshmen lack real talent. Hill, Kris Boyd and DeShon Elliott are among the highest-rated defensive backs in the state, while Davante Davis and PJ Locke will carve out roles before long.

Once again, that's just too many freshmen to trot out, especially when you're talking about a Big 12 secondary. This group will be elite again in the near future, but it'll need a little luck to hold its own this season.

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