Texas Football Recruiting: 5 early signees who’ll make an instant impact

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The other late addition for this 2019 Texas football recruiting class from the JUCO ranks provides a noticeable boost to the front seven. The defensive line is not the only area on the defensive side of the ball that looks to have heavy losses in the off-season. At linebacker, the Horns could wind up losing all three starters depending on how Malcolm Roaches decides for the upcoming NFL Draft.

Yet, the decision from Roach has to be tilted to him returning to the Forty Acres. He has too much to gain by coming back for one more year coming off a trying 2018 campaign filled with injury issues. Even if Roach does come back, the addition of three-star Fullerton College outside linebacker Caleb Johnson is going to be a pivotal part of this defense in 2019 and 2020.

Texas is set to lose the pair of senior starting linebackers Anthony Wheeler and Gary Johnson following the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The loss of Gary could set up a direct path for Caleb to start at rover. Caleb Johnson is a mature players with the range and sure-tackling ability the Horns need in the front seven. That will be key since Gary Johnson’s range helped make up for some of the shortcomings this Texas defense had with open-field tackling for a good portion of the regular season.

This class at linebacker has some higher rated signees than Johnson. Four-star inside linebacker De’Gabriel Floyd was one of the top rated signees in the 2019 Texas football recruiting class overall. But, Johnson has something special that he brings to the table that the rest of this linebacker class does not, and that is hard hitting ability and speed.