Texas Football: 3 freshman that could breakout in Alamo Bowl vs. CU

3) Texas football freshmen who could breakout in Alamo Bowl

A potential starter at safety for the Longhorns next season could be the former highly touted four-star recruit and true freshman Jerrin Thompson. This 6-foot and 190 pound potent defensive back did get some playing time this fall for Herman and first-year defensive coordinator/safeties coach Chris Ash. And he did well in those limited snaps.

Thompson played in four games for the Longhorns this fall, and started in one of them. This could be the second start of Thompson’s short lived college career so far. In just over 100 snaps played this fall in bits and pieces of four games, Thompson registered eight combined tackles, one interception, and one pass breakup.

Even though the stat line on the surface for Thompson was pretty good, especially when he notched his first career pick in the Longhorns win over Kansas State a few weeks back, he’s got flaws to his limited showings thus far. Thompson has a whopping five missed tackles on the season so far and did allow one passing touchdown when he was targeted just five times in pass coverage.

Thompson could start to become an integral piece to the secondary, with him likely getting the start at safety alongside junior B.J. Foster. He’ll be taking the place of either junior Caden Sterns or senior Chris Brown in the Alamo Bowl.

Coming out of Lufkin High School in Lufkin, TX, Thompson ranked as the nation’s No. 183 2020 high school prospect, No. 14 safety, and No. 27 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). He was a big part of Texas’ 2020 recruiting class and could be a big part of the secondary moving forward.