Texas Football: 5 players with a lot to prove in summer workouts

Jacoby Jones, DE

All of a sudden, the Texas front seven has become a hotly contested area of the depth chart on the defensive side of the ball with a number of potential position battles looming. The plethora of activity out of the NCAA Transfer Portal this offseason for Sark and his defensive coaching staff got the front seven a lot deeper almost across the board.

And one player that will really have to prove himself for the rest of the offseason to show he deserves a spot regularly in the defensive line rotation is the former JUCO transfer and Oklahoma Sooners three-star commit Jacoby Jones. The 6-foot-4 and 250-pound rising senior defensive was solid at times for Texas in the past two seasons.

But there has yet to be a time where Jones regularly got snaps for the defensive line. He has a newfound opportunity, though, under new defensive line coach Bo Davis and co-defensive coordinators/linebackers coaches Jeff Choate and Pete Kwiatkowski to get better positioning on the depth chart in 2021.

Considering that Jones had a solid showing in spring ball for the Longhorns, he can build off the momentum and garner more early playing time this fall if he continues to show out in summer workouts. He still has a good ways to go before he can prove that he deserves a starting spot on the D-Line over someone like senior Moro Ojomo, sophomore Alfred Collins, grad transfer Ben Davis, etc.

This could be the final year for Jones on the Forty Acres, and he needs to make the most of it. He’s off to a good start in terms of making the right impression on the new coaching staff with a good outing in spring ball. Now, he can continue to make his way up the depth chart, and get set to get more key game reps, with a strong showing in the summer conditioning program.