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3 Texas true freshmen who can breakout in second half

No. 1 Texas has multiple freshmen who could play big roles on each side of the ball in the regular season's second half.

By Andrew Miller

Jordon Johnson-Rubell, Texas football
Jordon Johnson-Rubell, Texas football / Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Alex January, Texas football
Alex January, Texas football / Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Alex January, DT

One of the more underrated emergences among the true freshmen for the Longhorns on the defensive side of the ball in the past few weeks since late September is defensive tackle Alex January.

Getting to learn and develop under experienced and proven senior defensive tackles like Vernon Broughton, Jermayne Lole, and Tia Savea, along with taking a pretty heavy helping of live-game snaps, has pushed along January's development this fall.

January is one of the eight Longhorns' true freshmen who have already burned their redshirt this season. He's taken defensive snaps in six out of the Longhorns' seven games during the regular season.

In the past three weeks, January is having his best run of the season for Texas's defensive line as a rotational player, but still mostly taking snaps in garbage time late in games. January has registered a couple of defensive stops, one quarterback pressure, and no missed tackles since the non-con finale in Week 4 against UL-Monroe.

January played a season-high 17 defensive snaps in Texas's dominant 34-3 win in the Red River Rivalry game last weekend over the Sooners. He registered his best defensive and run defense grades of the regular season against Oklahoma's offense.

If January continues to elevate his game for Texas's defensive line in the next few weeks in SEC play, I could definitely see him taking more snaps outside of garbage time late in the season and in November.

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