We are now a few weeks into the summer workout program for Texas football, meaning there are some early returns worth discussing for the younger players on the team. Summer workouts is a time for the younger players to add some muscle mass and get their body right ahead of the upcoming season.
Strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton gets to show what he can do with some players that need to get in better shape, add muscle mass, or both over the next month or so.
Most Longhorns players who need to make the most strides this summer are underclassmen. More specifically, the Longhorns will look to get some of the key freshmen on campus to get their bodies right to the point where they can make an impact on the field this fall.
The good news is that we’ve heard some positive returns from the freshmen early in the summer workout program. In the last few weeks, it sounds like some true freshmen on campus are making instant impressions on the coaching staff and their teammates.
Which true freshmen for Texas football are impressing early in the summer S&C program?
With that in mind, here’s a look at four true freshmen for the Longhorns that are impressing early in summer workouts.
Warren Roberson, S
One of the late-cycle additions for the Longhorns in the 2023 class is the former TCU Horned Frogs commit and highly touted four-star safety recruit, Warren Roberson. The 6-foot-1 and 180-pound former Red Oak High School defensive back was a solid late-cycle pickup for the Longhorns to beef up the secondary for the future.
Roberson can play multiple positions in Texas’ secondary. And while the best fit in the immediate future for Roberson looks to be at nickel, he’s already proving to have the versatility to stand out at a few different spots in the defensive backfield.
Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas mentioned in the “State of the Program” show on the On Texas Football YouTube channel that Roberson is one of the summer enrollees blowing away the coaching staff this summer.
Roberson is one of the positive surprises we’ve heard good feedback from early in the summer workout program. If he keeps impressing the coaches the way he has in the last few weeks, Roberson could be someone to watch to make noise in the secondary in fall camp.
Trevor Goosby, OT
Another underrated recruit in the Longhorns 2023 class that arrived on campus for the summer semester is the former high-three-star offensive tackle out of Melissa High School, Trevor Goosby. The 6-foot-7 and 280-pound true freshman offensive tackle Goosby was one of the signees in the 2023 class for offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and the Longhorns with some real long-term upside.
But it appears that some of that upside is being displayed early in summer workouts for Goosby. Some of the work Goosby put in to get his body right before he arrived on campus this summer is catching the staff’s attention.
Nahlin of Inside Texas reported (paid content) that Goosby’s “readiness upon arrival” was evident in the early stages of summer workouts. We’ve heard that Goosby has looked like one of the most impressive true freshman offensive linemen a few weeks into the summer strength and conditioning program.
Moreover, while I don’t necessarily think that Goosby getting off to a strong start in summer workouts will put him in a spot to get a spot on the two-deep this fall, it can help him get a jump start in his development track.
A strong start to summer workouts can also help Goosby make up some ground that he lost compared to the other 2023 signees that enrolled early to participate in spring ball. We all know how much Sark and the Longhorns staff like their spring enrollees among the true freshmen.
If Goosby can continue to look the part of one of the most physically-impressive true freshman offensive linemen for the rest of the summer workout program, he should be able to push the likes of Andre Cojoe, Jaydon Chatman, and Payton Kirkland for positioning on the depth chart this fall.
Derek Williams, S
The highest-rated recruit among the true freshmen that arrived on campus this summer was the former elite five-star safety out of New Iberia (LA) Westgate High School Derek Williams. The uber-talented true freshman defensive back that the Longhorns nabbed out of SEC country can make an impact on the field this fall.
What’s holding me up from saying that Williams is guaranteed to be an instant impact player for Texas’ secondary this coming season is that he didn’t get the valuable early reps during spring ball. Since Williams enrolled this summer, he’s behind the eight ball regarding the distribution of practice reps at the safety position.
The good news for Williams is that he is more than talented enough to prove to safeties coach Blake Gideon and Pete Kwiatkowski that he is too good to keep off the field for good this fall.
And it sounds like Williams is already starting to prove just how good he can be for the Texas defense in the early stages of summer workouts. Orangebloods reported (subscriber content) that Williams is one of the first names that come to mind among the true freshmen that have “caught the staff’s attention” this summer.
There was some discussion around the topic that Williams could be one of the biggest immediate contributors among the true freshmen summer enrollees during the season. To some degree, it was inevitable for these types of conversations to be avoided this summer concerning William’s ability to make an immediate impact this fall.
But the fact that he’s looking the part as one of the immediate impact candidates among the summer enrollees this soon after arriving on campus is a great sign for his trajectory at Texas.
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.