Texas Longhorns Recruiting: Quick Hits

It’s signing day and the class of 25 seems to be complete.

Traylon Shead has a nice feature up over at the Statesman . He sounds like a back who has both the talent to play well at this level, and the physical intelligence (like Tre Newton) to make the right cut at the right speed. However, he’s behind Newton, Cody Johnson, Fozzy Whittaker, Vondrell McGee, and Chris Whaley, whom Major Applewhite claimed to be looking better after cutting some weight.

I actually like what I’m hearing about Shead and his abilities more than several of those options and it seems that he is physically ready, so it’s possible he plays as a freshman. If we hear about some of those guys rocking spring drills though it’s likely the staff will keep him off the field.

GhostofBigRoy has kicked off his great recruiting spotlight series wasting no time in getting to Jackson Jeffcoat and Jordan Hicks .

Because he can take on linemen so well at a low weight, it sounds like Jeffcoat may take on more of a Sergio Kindle role on the defense as a stand-up rusher and DE/LB hybrid. But again, he probably already is more skilled than Kindle as a pass-rusher. We might see him used on the strongside with Alex Okafor coming off the edge at RE. All in 2 years though since Sam Acho and Eddie Jones probably aren’t giving up the 2 starting spots this year.

Hicks probably won’t play as a freshman unless the coaches decide to use him on Special Teams or in particular pass-rush packages. It’s hard to see exactly where he projects since he excels as a blitzer and in coverage. If he can add the necessary strength and maintain the speed and agility he might make for a middle linebacker but it’s still a good bet he ends up at WLB and cracks the 2-deep in his sophomore year when Keenan Robinson is on his way out.

Another Statesman article on early enrollment details Gideon’s rise. Connor Wood, Case McCoy and Adrian White are the early enrollments this year.

The quarterbacks are a no-brainer, particularly McCoy, who is about as small as his brother coming in. While White is not one of the higher ranked DBs coming in, there’s a chance to crack the depth chart at Corner. After the starting 3 of Curtis Brown, Chykie Brown and Aaron Williams there isn’t much else in the way except Eryon Barnett and the other incoming freshman, none of whom are enrolling until the summer. White has the short-area speed you would like to see from a zone-corner or a robber safety like Thomas played last year.

As most of us now know, the Aggies lost prize linebacker Corey Nelson as well as another top player they tried to poach from Louisiana, potentially the dirtiest state for recruiting in the country.

Will check in later with the Mack Brown press conference when we get to hear Mack’s vision for all these guys.

This article was written by Nickel Rover of Barking Carnival

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