Texas Football: 3 young pass rushers standing out late in spring practice

Colton Vasek, EDGE

While some of the noise surrounding his performances in practice isn’t as noticeable early this week, the impression that true freshman edge rusher Colton Vasek has made on the coaches this spring is undoubted. The 6-foot-5 and 230-pound Vasek has proven to be able to use his length and bend off the edge to be disruptive in the pass rush this spring.

Vasek has won a lot of battles in team drills and scrimmage settings this spring against the second and third-team offensive tackles. While the second and third-team offensive linemen don’t pose the same challenge in pass-rush matchups as the likes of senior Christian Jones and sophomore Kelvin Banks Jr., it’s still impressive to see Vasek finding ways to get the job done before he reaches his full potential.

I believe that Vasek’s ability to use his length and bend off the edge to his advantage, despite the lack of muscle mass, will be one of the biggest reasons why he will see a decent helping of live-game reps this fall.

Moreover, it sounds like Vasek is still behind the likes of sophomore edge rusher Ethan Burke, sophomore Justice Finkley, and potentially even redshirt freshman J’Mond Tapp in terms of his development this spring. But he can still solidify a spot on the two-deep heading into the fall if he can prove to be that impact pass rusher that can give Texas a spark off the edge.