4 pleasant surprises for Texas football in first half of fall camp

We are about to wrap up the first half of fall camp for the Texas football program, with the second scrimmage just around the corner this coming weekend. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian began fall camp on Aug. 3. And the first fall camp scrimmage wrapped up on Aug. 13.

At this point of the offseason, we are roughly two and a half weeks away from the regular season opener. Sark and the Longhorns will open up the 2022 regular season at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Sep. 3.

Yet, fall camp has not come without its fair share of setbacks and hurdles for Sark and his staff. Texas still is in the midst of a quarterback competition as neither junior Hudson Card nor redshirt freshman Quinn Ewers has stepped up and taken the reigns for this offense.

Texas also suffered some injury setbacks of late, namely losing redshirt sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Neyor and senior interior offensive lineman Junior Angilau for the season due to ACL tears.

Pleasant surprises for Texas football to open up fall camp

The good news is that some of the newfound depth for Sark and the Longhorns has started to come to the forefront in bits and pieces at this point of the offseason. Here’s a look at four pleasant surprises for the Longhorns from the first half of fall camp.

Honorable mentions

Ethan Burke, EDGE

One of the breakthroughs that we witnessed in the last few days of fall camp was true freshman edge rusher Ethan Burke. The former Michigan Wolverines commit and sizable 6-foot-7 edge player Burke looked great in the open practice on Aug. 16, including winning multiple battles in the pass rush.

Burke will be worth keeping an eye on for the rest of camp to see if he can win some key early reps during his first season as a Longhorn.

Casey Cain, WR

A spot where Sark and the Longhorns really need someone to rise to the occasion now lies at the z-wide receiver spot. In the wake of the season-ending injury to Neyor last weekend, the door is now open to the likes of redshirt freshman wide receiver Casey Cain and redshirt sophomore Troy Omeire to get starting reps.

And from what we’re hearing out of camp lately, Cain is the one that is separating himself as the outside receiver making a real impression on the staff.

Vernon Broughton, DL

Another surprise we saw during the open practice earlier this week at DKR was sophomore defensive lineman Vernon Broughton getting the first-team reps in the trenches alongside sophomore defensive tackle Byron Murphy. This duo of Broughton and Murphy looked the part, though, in camp this week, especially in the open practice.

Jaylon Guilbeau, DB

With junior defensive back Jahdae Barron missing some time lately due to an injury issue that was first reported last week, that opened the door for freshman Jaylon Guilbeau to get some of the first-team reps at the star position. Guilbeau was one of the better defensive backs in the scrimmage last weekend. He will be a player to watch in the second scrimmage on Aug. 20.

It’s still presumed that Barron is the set-in-stone starter at the star/nickel position heading into the opener. But it’s good to have the depth rising this fall with Guilbeau having a solid run in camp.