Texas Football: 4 players that shined in Friday’s spring scrimmage
For what could be the last time before the Orange-White Game, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian held a closed scrimmage on April 7. This is the third consecutive weekend that Texas held a scrimmage.
The last two scrimmages in the last couple of weekends were both closed. But the first spring scrimmage a few weeks ago was open to visiting recruits as it was held in the midst of the Junior Day/cookout festivities on March 25.
There weren’t a ton of notes that we got coming out of the third spring scrimmage. But the notes we did get continue to prove some of the bigger takeaways of spring camp thus far.
Sark and the Longhorns continue to see upperclassmen rise to the occasion along the defensive front while upperclassmen are getting developed better on both sides of the ball this spring compared to the last few years. We also heard about the offensive line having a better day in this scrimmage than it did in the prior two weekends.
CJ Baxter Jr. leads the way among the top Texas football standouts in Friday’s closed scrimmage
With all of this in mind, here’s a look at four Longhorns players that shined in the closed scrimmage on April 7.
When talking cornerback opposite Ryan Watts, Steve Sarkisian mentions Terrance Brooks, Gavin Holmes, Xavion Brice, Jahdae Barron, and Austin Jordan.
— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) April 4, 2023
“Our coaches have done a good job of evaluating and recruiting that position.”
Austin Jordan, DB
One of the pleasant surprises on the defensive side of the ball for the Longhorns this spring is sophomore defensive back and former blue-chip recruit Austin Jordan. The 6-foot and 200-pound Denton, TX, native is having a nice spring camp cross-training at boundary corner and nickelback.
Jordan is getting a lot of good exposure as he’s getting reps behind two fantastic defensive backs in redshirt junior boundary corner Ryan Watts and senior nickelback Jahdae Barron.
We heard that Jordan continued to excel in the defensive backfield during the closed scrimmage on April 7. A scrimmage report from Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods on April 7 (subscriber content) noted that Jordan managed to pick off second-year quarterback Maalik Murphy.
It sounds like Jordan made a good play on the ball, even if Murphy wasn’t exactly on the same page with the wideout he targeted.
Jordan is one of the first names we heard about in terms of the defensive standouts from each of the last two weekends. That is a fantastic sign in terms of where Jordan’s game is headed in the closing stages of spring ball.