Texas Football: 3 possible position changes to watch in spring ball

Austin Jordan

Old/current position: Cornerback

New position: Nickel

One of the strongest position groups for Texas on either side of the ball heading into spring ball is the secondary. Texas has a ton of talent, depth, and experience returning across the board in the defensive backfield in 2023.

But one of the issues that Texas could have to deal with heading into spring ball is injuries. According to a report from Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas on Feb. 7 (paid content), the injury status of sophomore defensive back Jaylon Guilbeau is uncertain heading into spring camp.

Guilbeau reportedly hasn’t fully participated throughout most of winter workouts thus far. He originally suffered a knee injury late last season. That caused him to miss the final five games of the season.

It didn’t originally sound like Guilbeau was going to miss this much time. And the IT report noting his injury doesn’t mention any firm specifics on what the nature of this ailment is at this point.

Moreover, if Guilbeau is limited during spring ball, or misses camp entirely, then there could be some position changes in the coming months to watch in the secondary.

Guilbeau was figured to be the backup at nickel/star behind rising senior defensive back Jahdae Barron. He played well while getting rotational reps behind Barron at the star position as a true freshman last fall.

But the potential of Guilbeau being limited during spring ball means that rising sophomore Austin Jordan could reportedly be a name to watch that could fill a potential depth need at nickel. Jordan showed a lot of range and versatility coming out of high school.

https://twitter.com/TexPlatinum/status/1415378708597248008

The 6-foot and 195-pound defensive back has the coverage skills and ranginess required to play really any position in the secondary. And considering he excelled in slot coverage and in the limited situations when he lined up in the box pre-snap on defense last season, I’d say that Jordan would be a natural fit if he were to possibly have a temporary relocation to nickel for spring ball.

There is also the possibility that Nahlin mentioned in his report that Jordan could cross-train at the star position while maintaining his spot on the depth chart at boundary corner.