Texas Football: 3 defensive standouts from the closed spring scrimmage

For the second time this spring, Texas football took part in some type of scrimmage during the weekend. Last weekend, Texas held an open scrimmage/practice amid the Junior Day festivities.

This weekend, head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns took part in a scrimmage that didn’t come in front of many, if any, visiting recruits on campus. The scrimmage that took place this weekend was also important for the Longhorns as the annual Orange-White spring football game is now just a couple of weeks away.

At most, Texas will be able to take part in one more scrimmage during the weekend before the Orange-White Game at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on April 15.

Alfred Collins and the Texas football defensive standouts from this weekend’s closed scrimmage

Moreover, coming out of this weekend’s scrimmage, we heard about a lot of defensive standouts that stole the spotlight. Here’s a look at three of the biggest defensive standouts from the scrimmage on April 1.

Kitan Crawford, S

One of the names that are being talked about the most in the last couple of weeks in spring practice is senior safety Kitan Crawford. The former converted corner and 5-foot-11 and 200-pound speedster sounds like he is really starting to get it in the secondary for the Longhorns this spring.

It sounds like Crawford made some big plays on the ball and his range stuck out to those that saw the closed scrimmage on April 1. And while Crawford still needs to make some strides in practice this spring, this latest scrimmage was evidence of the progress he’s made since spring break let out more than a couple of weeks ago.

A report from Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods on April 2 (subscriber content) noted that Crawford is one of the “biggest winners” on the Texas defense so far this spring. He was specifically mentioned as the biggest winner of any player at the safety position for Texas in camp.

Crawford only helped his case in terms of his ability to be the safety that had the biggest rise this spring in the scrimmage on April 1. He needed to show this spring that he could read routes better and react on the ball quicker. And it looks like he’s starting to show more versatility and letting his outstanding physical tools come to the forefront on defense.