3 important players to watch in Texas football’s second fall scrimmage

The highly anticipated second scrimmage of fall camp is roughly 24 hours away for the Texas football program. On Aug. 20, Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian will likely get closer to figuring out a number of different impending position battles when this team takes part in the second scrimmage ahead of the opener in a couple of weeks.

We are also obviously hoping that the Longhorns make it through this second scrimmage much healthier than the first.

Moreover, position battles won’t be the only overarching storyline we’ll be watching for the second fall scrimmage this weekend. It will be good to see the progress that the offense is making after a pretty crazy week in terms of the rumor mill for the quarterback battle and all the injuries that came about since the first scrimmage.

And it will be important to watch how some of the newcomers to this team perform in their newfound roles. We’re starting to see some of the newcomers step up in a big way on both sides of the ball with only a couple of weeks remaining before the regular season opener, on Sep. 3 at home against Louisiana-Monroe.

Key Texas football players to follow in the second fall scrimmage this weekend

With all of this in mind, here’s a look at three of the most important Longhorns players to watch in the second fall scrimmage on Aug. 20.

Barryn Sorrell, EDGE

Since this weekend’s scrimmage is likely the one that could determine how the bulk of the two-deep depth chart shakes out for the regular season opener, especially on the defenisve side of the ball, this is a critical day for some along the front seven. Sophomore defensive end/edge rusher Barryn Sorrell is no exception to this.

Sorrell will be fighting to solidify his spot on the two-deep depth chart either at defensive end or edge rusher. And it feels like the best case scenario for Sorrell would be for him to get firmly in the rotation at both positions.

At 6-foot-3 and 250-pounds, Sorrell has put on some good size that will allow him to more effectively compete in the trenches. But it still sounds like he has maintained that speed and underrated explosiveness off the edge that made him a special blue-chip prospect coming out of high school.

With junior defensive lineman/edge rusher Alfred Collins likely to miss the regular season opener due to injury, there is an opportunity for Sorrell to get some extra reps in the next few weeks. A solid scrimmage this weekend from Sorrell could be enough for him to get extra reps at the jack edge rusher position and to solidify a backup defensive end spot on the very least on the two-deep.