Texas Football: 3 standouts from the final full-pads spring practice

Jonathon Brooks, RB

Another skill position player for the Longhorns that we heard a lot about coming out of the final day of full-pads practice in drills is redshirt sophomore running back Jonathon Brooks. It sounds like Brooks is ending spring drills on a high note after he was limited in the first week of camp as he was recovering from a hernia issue.

Brooks had a procedure on the hernia injury following the Alamo Bowl against the Washington Huskies in late December.

This was a big week of practice for the third-year Hallettsville native. Brooks needed to show out in a big way for the Longhorns in the final week of spring ball, especially with the rise of other backs such as sophomore Jaydon Blue and true freshman early enrollee CJ Baxter Jr.

When healthy, Brooks was the one getting most of the first-team reps at the running back position. But we did hear about Blue pushing Brooks for some of the first-team reps in the last couple of weeks of drills and the last few scrimmages.

Brooks was the clear-cut first-team running back in full-pads practice on April 11, though. He reportedly got the heaviest workload of all the running backs. Brooks did well with the reps he got in practice on this day, reportedly breaking some tackles and showing good field vision in team drills.

This is a good sign of progress for Brooks as he looks to cement himself as the first-team running back heading into the fall. He’ll need to have a good spring game this weekend to continue to prove he’s worthy of the starting running back job this fall.