3 Texas players shining in spring that could win starting spots

Kitan Crawford, S

Among the most notable position changes this spring occurred with rising junior defensive back and former blue-chip recruit Kitan Crawford making the move from cornerback to safety. By the looks of it, Crawford could actually wind up being the most impactful position switch made on the defensive side of the ball for the Longhorns this offseason.

Crawford went from potentially vying for a spot as a backup cornerback to taking hold of most of the momentum in the conversation of who could be starting this fall at field safety. There was a point in time when it looked like someone like junior Jerrin Thompson or sophomore JD Coffey could take command of the starting job at field safety.

That narrative quickly shifted, though, a couple of weeks into spring ball.

Texas could have quite the duo at the two safety positions this fall from the early indications showing in spring ball between returning senior Anthony Cook moving to boundary safety and Crawford moving to field safety. Cook and Crawford have mostly had nothing but good news coming out of practice so far this spring.

In the last few weeks, most of the first-team reps at field safety are going to Crawford in practice and the scrimmages. And from what we’ve heard about Crawford’s performance in camp thus far, that is a very good thing.

You have to wonder, though, if this is a move that is the doing of Pete Kwiatkowski, Blake Gideon, or even the new special assistant to the head coach Gary Patterson.