3 Texas players losing ground on depth chart in spring ball

Sydir Mitchell, DT

Defensive tackle depth was one of the biggest question marks for the Longhorns entering the spring. Texas lost multiple potential first-round NFL Draft picks along the interior defensive line this offseason, T'Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II.

The questions surrounding Texas's defensive tackle rotation wasn't concerning the top of the depth chart. Texas has a good group of experienced and proven defensive tackles next in line to be the disruptors and two-gappers in the trenches in the SEC this upcoming season, namely seniors Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton.

What lies beyond Collins, Broughton, and senior Arizona transfer Tia Savea is where the question marks begin for Texas's defensive tackle depth. I think the Longhorns were expecting returning players such as junior Jaray Bledsoe and sophomore Sydir Mitchell to be further along in their development by the start of this spring camp.

Mitchell, in particular, has a lot of work to do in the second half of spring practice to get back on track with where the defensive staff thought he would be in his second year on campus. Multiple practice reports in the first half of spring ball have mentioned true freshman defensive tackle Alex January passing up Mitchell in the pecking order of practice reps in the last couple of weeks.

A report from Horns247 on April 4 put it well, naming Mitchell as one of the Longhorns players with the most to gain in the second half of spring practice.

New Texas defensive line coach Kenny Baker must find a way to get through to Mitchell to help him get his body right and get that motivation up to where we think it could be entering preseason camp.