Texas Football: 5 bold Longhorns spring camp predictions

2. Josh Thompson gets most first-team reps among safeties

This isn’t so much a bold prediction for the Texas football program at this point of spring camp as it is a certainty. We’re going to see some younger players further down the depth chart for the Horns defensive backfield get key first team reps, especially at safety. Texas just lost the pair of rising sophomore star safeties B.J. Foster and Caden Sterns go out for the rest of spring with injury.

Between all the cornerback roster turnover that the Horns have to deal with between the departures of former senior starters Kris Boyd and Davante Davis and the rash of safety injuries, there’s going to be a lot of new faces that have to step up. Second-year corners Jalen Green and Anthony Cook are hoping to take their place.

All this turbulence among the projected starters in the secondary for Texas means that the few experienced backups within this group need to come through in a big way. Among those more experienced players include third-year defensive backs Chris Brown and Josh Thompson. Those two have got quite a bit of game action over the past two years.

Entering spring camp, many figured that Thompson would take over for the departed senior P.J. Locke III at the nickelback spot for defensive coordinator Todd Orlando. Yet, Foster ousted Thompson thus far for the starting nickelback spot. This is the opportunity for Thompson to prove that he deserves to stay in the secondary rotation this fall.