Texas Football: 3 underrated early enrollees who’ll make noise in 2023

Liona Lefau, LB

One of the most underrated signees from the high school ranks in the Longhorns 2023 class is hands down the four-star Kahuku (HI) linebacker Liona Lefau. The 6-foot-2 and 225-pound Lefau was a huge get for PK, Jeff Choate, and the Longhorns over more local PAC-12 schools to the blue-chip linebacker such as the Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks.

What Texas is getting out of Lefau is a defender with a pretty traditional skill set for a versatile middle linebacker. He’s got good quickness in space and is plenty proficient in pass coverage. The ability to find the ball and bring down the ball carrier in space is definitely prevalent for Lefau in run defense.

Lefau can essentially do it all in terms of what you’re looking for out of a middle linebacker.

I mentioned earlier in this part of the list that Lefau is now at 225 pounds. That information comes courtesy of an offseason team update from Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas (paid content) a few weeks ahead of the start of spring drills. That is 15 pounds heavier than Lefau came onto campus.

It’s huge for Lefau to be able to add some necessary muscle mass to his frame. That gets him much closer to the size he’ll need to compete at right away at the middle linebacker position as a true freshman.

There’s a good chance that Lefau could get some second-team reps at the mike linebacker position behind the reigning All-Big 12 senior standout Jaylan Ford.

Lefau definitely has a higher ceiling than senior middle linebacker Jett Bush, which is the player he would be competing with in spring ball to get the second-team reps at the position behind Ford. Lefau is also the more capable linebacker in space and likely the more adept read-and-react linebacker in the middle of the front seven.

All in all, it sounds like Lefau is definitely putting himself in a good spot to earn a spot on the two-deep right away in 2023. If nothing else, he will be able to get rotational reps at the linebacker position during the 2023 campaign for PK and the Longhorns.