Texas Football: 3 2020 early enrollees who can make an instant impact

There’s an obvious path to playing time for any defensive tackle signee or transfer that the Texas football program hauls in during the 2020 offseason. But the primary selection to get early playing time this year, if he’s ready to do so, is the four-star Cy Ridge defensive tackle Vernon Broughton. The 6-foot-5 and 290 pound Broughton is also versatile enough to slot as a defensive tackle or a bigger defensive end.

Behind the projected starting Texas defensive tackle this year, redshirt sophomore Keondre Coburn, there is an open spot on the depth chart. Coburn should be the set in stone starting defensive tackle this season, but Texas lost two more experienced seniors at the position to the NCAA Transfer Portal earlier in the offseason.

Texas lost to-be redshirt senior Gerald Wilbon and fourth-year nose tackle D’Andre Christmas-Giles to the transfer portal in the same week. Wilbon was likely to be the backup to Coburn, but he is likely to take his talents elsewhere. That’s why getting a very talented and promising defensive tackle like Broughton to campus early is so crucial.

Broughton ranks as the nation’s No. 121 2020 high school prospect, No. 14 defensive tackle, and the No. 16 recruit out of the state of Texas. He brings an excellent level of speed and strength off the line to this Longhorns front seven. He had a 4.75-second shuttle time and 25-inch vertical measured in at the Dallas Opening Regional Combine last year, so his raw physical tools are very stout.