Texas Football: 5 biggest fall camp position battles
3. Middle linebacker
The competition: Ayodele Adeoye (RS-Fr.), Juwan Mitchell (Jr. JUCO), Caleb Johnson (Jr. JUCO)
There might not be a position that has more unproven, but promising, options for Texas football to pick a starter from than middle linebacker. The losses of the senior linebacker duo of Gary Johnson and Anthony Wheeler means a lot of new faces among the starters in the front seven this coming season.
At this point, most would have to consider the favorite to be the former four-star 2018 signee and redshirt freshman Ayodele Adeoye. The problem with Adeoye is that the coaching staff and media keeps giving indications that Adeoye is taking the steps forward over the course of the past 8-12 months that we hoped for.
However, Adeoye is still a very physical and athletic linebacker that could make serious strides in the right situation this fall. The biggest challenger to Adeoye could be the highly touted top ranked 2019 JUCO inside linebacker in the nation Juwan Mitchell. If Mitchell shows progress in fall camp, the coaching staff could turn their attention to him for middle linebacker.
The two dark horses in the race to land the starting middle linebacker role at any point during the regular season includes former three-star JUCO transfer Caleb Johnson and the converted redshirt freshman safety DeMarvion Overshown. But Overshown is likely to start the season fourth on the depth chart at middle linebacker, if that’s where the coaching staff slots him.