Texas Football: Jaray Bledsoe receiving praise early in fall camp

Amid the third day of fall practice, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian are still in the early stages of configuring the two-deep depth chart heading into Week 1 on Sep. 2 against the Rice Owls. Texas began fall practice on Aug. 2 with only helmets, shoulder pads, and shorts.

Despite the full pads having yet to come on at fall practice as of Aug. 4, there are still some emerging breakout players for the Longhorns in the early stages of training camp. One name that popped up a lot on Aug. 3 amid the potential breakout players to watch for the Longhorns this fall is second-year edge rusher/defensive lineman, Jaray Bledsoe.

The physically-gifted 6-foot-4 and 275-pound Marlin, TX, native Bledsoe has clearly impressed some of his teammates and the coaches so far this offseason and in the early stages of camp.

During his time speaking with the media in a post-practice press conference on Aug. 3, redshirt senior offensive tackle Christian Jones shouted out Bledsoe for how much he’s improved this offseason. Jones said that Bledsoe is “hyper-flexible and very twitchy”. Beyond that, it sounds like Bledsoe is becoming incredibly difficult to block coming off the edge this year.

Texas football sophomore EDGE Jaray Bledsoe emerging as a potential breakout player in camp

"“He can bend, hit the corner strong. We were talking about it yesterday. Jaray has gotten super strong. Now, you really feel him on the run blocks. He can definitely help us.”"

Horns247 also reported on Aug. 4 (paid content) that Bledsoe is “preparing more like a professional” this offseason and “showing signs of eventually becoming an impact player”.

Bledsoe could be the breakout EDGE Texas direly needs

The biggest area of impact that Texas needs positionally heading into the season is edge rusher. And while junior edge rusher Barryn Sorrell looks to be on track to become that next standout pass rusher for Texas, PK and the Longhorns still need someone opposite him to truly round out the defensive front this fall.

Bledsoe could be that athletic freak that Texas needs up front to truly put pressure on opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks. The former blue-chip recruit out of Marlin, TX, has always had the physical gifts to be a next-level pass rusher. It was just about him putting it all together in his first couple of years on campus to be able to make an impact on the field in live-game action.