Texas Football: 3 early enrollees standing out in winter workouts

Texas football is currently in the latter stages of winter workouts, with the start of spring ball just a few weeks ago. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian will likely begin spring ball in early March as the annual Orange-White spring football game is set for April 15 at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Winter workouts provided the Texas coaches with their first look at a lot of the new additions to the program early this offseason. The new additions include more than a dozen early enrollees by way of high school recruits from the 2023 signing class.

There are also four new additions to the Longhorns in the 2023 signing class via the NCAA Transfer Portal, highlighted by the former Georgia Bulldogs sophomore wide receiver AD Mitchell and Arkansas Razorbacks redshirt junior safety Jalen Catalon.

Arch Manning and the Texas football early enrollees making an instant impression on the coaches

And it didn’t take long for many of the new additions via high school recruiting and the transfer portal to make an impression on the coaching staff. With that in mind, here’s a look at three early enrollees among the true freshman from the 2023 recruiting class that are making a positive impression on the coaches already in winter workouts.

Johntay Cook, WR

The highest-ranked wide receiver signee from the high school ranks in the Longhorns 2023 class is the former elite five-star DeSoto recruit Johntay Cook. The skilled and explosive 6-foot and 175-pound wideout is in a good spot to make the biggest early impact on the offense of any of the high school recruits that Texas signed in the 2023 class.

Cook’s insane technical ability at the position really sets him apart from the rest of the new additions to the wide receiver room for the Longhorns. He’s got an insane route tree that is way more technically proficient than most other wideouts you would find coming out of high school. Cook is also extremely quick and the ball is like a magnet to his hands.

Moreover, it doesn’t take much digging to find the early impression that Cook is making on his teammates and the coaches in his short time on the 40 this semester. A winter workouts report from CJ Vogel of TFB Texas on Feb. 9 (donor content) notes that Cook is an “alpha” among the younger players and that he is already earning the respect of the older guys within the program.

The sense I’m getting from Cook’s presence with the team early in his time on the 40 is that it will be extremely difficult for Sark and new wide receivers coach Chris Jackson to keep him off the field this fall. Cook has the makings of a guy that will be in line to get more live-game reps this fall than any of the other true freshmen in the wide receiver room.

It’s still early to be saying that definitively as Cook still has a lot to prove before the 2023 season begins. He needs to add more weight and prove that he can be proficient against some of the top-end defensive backs in the Power Five.

But the early returns from his time on campus are really positive and show that he is on the right track to make an early impact on the offense this coming season.