3 takeaways from Texas's Orange-White spring game

DL holds its own in run defense

Pete Kwiatkowski wasn't able to do much with his defensive units in the spring game. The inability to rush the passer and a couple of key upperclassmen starters being held out of the spring game put the top two defensive units in a bind.

As a result of the shortage of depth along the defensive line and in the secondary, younger players got a chance to step up in the spring game. We saw plenty of young contributors like true freshman cornerback Kobe Black and freshman safety Xavier Filsaime.

The defensive line also had solid showings from underclassmen such as second-year edge rusher Colton Vasek and true freshman edge rusher Colin Simmons. Vasek had a few nice defensive stops, and Simmons put effective pressure on the quarterback on a handful of drives for the defensive front.

Vasek was one of the true standouts on the defensive side of the ball for the Longhorns in the spring game. He had multiple sacks and tackles for loss as he stepped up for Team Orange, especially in the second half.

Strong EDGE play from guys like Vasek and Simmons helped the Longhorns mostly shut down any efforts running the football for the offensive units. The offenses had a hard time getting much movement at the line of scrimmage to create big running lanes for the backs.

Texas is still likely to add at least one impact defensive tackle via the transfer portal during the spring window to shore up depth for the iDL rotation entering the fall. The Longhorns had two transfer defensive tackle targets on campus visiting for the spring game today, Arizona senior Bill Norton and UCLA senior Jay Toia.

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