The Texas football depth chart featured few surprises to IT readers
Steve Sarkisian doesn’t like to release his depth chart until the last minute. Fortunately, if you’re an Inside Texas reader you weren’t surprised by much, if anything.
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Some of the talk in the market concerned who would start at cornerback and wide receiver.
As we reported for much of August, Jahdae Barron put himself in prime position to start at corner. Barron’s comfort there is only part of the story. Jaylon Guilbeau‘s maturation at Star has allowed Barron to play outside, though Barron is still the primary backup at Star. Freshman Jordon Johnson-Rubell is third string. He had a good camp and will feature on special teams.
Of course Malik Muhammad is the starter at the other corner. IT believes Barron will play to the boundary but with Gavin Holmes listed behind him on the roster, he may play field. Holmes is a field corner. In addition, you’ll note Kobe Black, who plays boundary, is behind Muhammad. In the end, it doesn’t really matter. Maybe they’ll just play right / left?
One discrepancy at wide receiver is Johntay Cook is at second team slot receiver behind DeAndre Moore. We thought he would be behind Matthew Golden at field receiver, though Cook can play anywhere. Instead, Silas Bolden is behind Golden. The starters are Isaiah Bond, Moore, and Golden. That’s a fast and pretty physical group. Stalk blocks on outside zone could become a team strength to Moore and Golden’s side.
Safety played out sort of as expected with Michael Taaffe and Andrew Mukuba starting and backed by Jelani McDonald and Derek Williams respectively. However, the depth chart shows Taaffe to the field and Mukuba to the boundary. That’s a bit surprising.
True freshmen linebacker Tyanthony Smith behind David Gbenda and Morice Blackwell is a positive sign for his development. He had a big August and is a potential future star. Keep an eye on him on special teams this year.
Interior defensive line looks similar to ours, though we didn’t break it down into three separate positions. Edge is exactly how we had it.
Anyone following Texas semi closely would have gotten the quarterbacks and running backs right. Tight end was pretty easy, too, with Juan Davis‘ ascension.
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First and second team O-line were pretty much dead on. Third-team was more of a guess for us.
