3 biggest position battles for Texas in spring camp
Free safety
Candidates to make the two-deep: Jerrin Thompson, BJ Allen, JD Coffey III, Kitan Crawford*
Among the position groups that really need to see improvement this year, Texas’ secondary will need to step it up in a big way. There weren’t many playmakers or even reliable players in the secondary for Texas last season.
Texas does have some familiar faces returning in the secondary in 2022, but not all of those returning players were very effective last season. That really is the case for the Longhorns at the free safety position.
Last season, Texas usually rotated between sophomore Jerrin Thompson and the converted senior wide receiver Brenden School at the free safety position. Schooler took 375 snaps for the Longhorns at safety last season while Thompson took 566.
Thus, it would make sense that the Longhorns have Thompson getting the first-team reps at the free safety position out of the gates in spring practice.
The problem for Thompson entering spring camp is the fact that he was one of the most inconsistent defensive backs for the Longhorns over the last two seasons. If Texas wants to improve their secondary as a whole, Pete Kwiatkowski fill have to figure out this issue at the free safety position.
Watch out for a number of former blue-chip recruits such as freshman BJ Allen, sophomore JD Coffey III, and the converted junior corner Kitan Crawford to compete for the starting spot here.
I would expect Allen and Coffey to really challenge Thompson here. We’ve heard good things about the impact Allen made already since arriving on the Forty Acres to participate in spring ball. He’s a name to watch among the freshmen in spring drills.
A change at free safety is likely going to be warranted at some point of this offseason.