“Spring†football started in the winter with conditioning drills early in the mornings. As the weeks progressed and temperatures warmed, the Longhorns went through 15 spring practices, culminating in the Orange-White scrimmage.
The key word on everybody’s lips for the last 90 days has been competition. While players will continue to compete during unsupervised summer workouts, the coaches spent the last few weeks challenging the roster.
By shifting players across multiple positions and utilizing different personnel groupings, the coaches spent the spring assessing the current roster. Now that they possess a solid grasp of the skill levels are available to them at different positions, Texas coaches can plan ahead for the arrival of the rest of 2015’s recruiting class.
Which positions need to be bolstered by incoming players? Are there starting spots up for grabs? How is roster depth at each position?
To answer those questions, the coaches have to honestly assess how the depth chart looks as the team exits spring football. Knowing there will be transfers, injuries, academic casualties, and an injection of freshman talent, attempting to project starters for the game against Notre Dame is folly.
Instead, the coaching staff will take a snap shot of how things stand at the current point in time, and put it in pencil. If Texas played this Saturday, this is the depth chart that would be used:
Offense
QUARTERBACK
1st string: Tyrone Swoopes
2nd string: Jerrod Heard
RUNNING BACK
1st string: Jonathan Gray
2nd string: D’Onta Foreman
OFFENSIVE LINE
1st string:
LT: Marcus Hutchins
LG: Sedrick Flowers
C: Taylor Doyle
RG: Kent Perkins
RT: Tristan Nickelson
2nd string:
LT: Connor Williams
LG: Elijah Rodriguez
C: Jake Raulerson
RG: Brandon Hodges
RT: Camrhon Hughes
TIGHT END
1st string: Andrew Beck
2nd string: Blake Whiteley
RECEIVER (X)
1st string: Dorian Leonard
2nd string: Lorenzo Joe
RECEIVER (Z)
1st string: Marcus Johnson
2nd string: Ty Templin
RECEIVER (H)
1st string: Jacorey Warrick
2nd string: Armanti Foreman
Defense
FOX END
1st string: Naashon Hughes
2nd string: Malik Jefferson
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
1st string: Hassan Ridgeway
2nd string: Paul Boyette
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
1st string: Poona Ford
2nd string: Paul Boyette
DEFENSIVE END
1st string: Bryce Cottrell
2nd string: Shiro Davis
MIDDLE LINEBACKER
1st string: Tim Cole
2nd string: Malik Jefferson
WEAKSIDE LINEBACKER
1st string: Peter Jinkens
2nd string: Edwin Freeman
CORNERBACK
1st string: Duke Thomas
2nd string: Antwuan Davis
NICKEL BACK
1st string: John Bonney
2nd string: Antwuan Davis
SAFETY
1st string: Jason Hall
2nd string: Kevin Vaccaro
SAFETY
1st string: Dylan Haines
2nd string: Adrian Colbert
CORNERBACK
1st string: Bryson Echols
2nd string: Jermaine Roberts
SPECIAL TEAMS
Place-Kicker: Nick Rose
Kickoff Returners: Daje Johnson & Armanti Foreman
Punter: Mitchell Becker
Punt Returner: Jacorey Warrick
