Texas Football: 4 true freshmen impressing most early in summer workouts

Anthony Hill Jr., LB

The highest-rated defensive recruit the Longhorns signed in the 2023 class is also a candidate to be one of the biggest immediate impact players on the field this fall among the true freshmen. A former elite five-star recruit out of Denton Ryan High School, linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., made a big splash when he arrived on campus to participate in spring ball.

Hill took a couple of weeks to get up to speed in spring practice, as is to be expected for many true freshmen so early in their collegiate career.

But once Hill started to get his feet wet in this defense during the spring, his playmaking ability and natural talent came to the forefront. Hill started to prove in the latter stages of spring ball that he was just too good for PK and the Longhorns to keep him off the field this fall.

Hill continues to impress the coaching staff and his teammates early in summer workouts. He reportedly clocked in as one of the fastest defensive players when those times were measured a couple of weeks ago.

This means Hill is not only one of the strongest and hardest-hitting players on the team but also one of the fastest and rangiest. That’s scary for a linebacker who can be so versatile and a game-breaker as a first-year player.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, though, with the expectations out of the gates for Hill, we should note how nice of a surprise it is that he is already showing out as one of the fastest defenders on the team. This is just another way that Hill stands out as the linebacker for the Longhorns that has the most physical upside.