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3 younger Texas players who could get more playing time in SEC play

Texas underclassmen have impressed game in and game out early this season for head coach Steve Sarkisian after three contests and three wins.

By Andrew Miller

Liona Lefau, Texas football
Liona Lefau, Texas football / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Ty'Anthony Smith, Alex January, Will Henderson III, Texas football
Alex January, Texas football / Tim Warner/GettyImages

Alex January, DT

A player on the defensive side of the ball for the Longhorns that I'm really surprised hasn't gotten more live-game reps early on this season is true freshman defensive tackle Alex January. The big 6-foot-5 and 315-pound defensive lineman from South Dallas and Duncanville High School will be one of the most impactful freshmen in the trenches for the Longhorns this season.

January has the size, strength, and advanced understanding of the defensive schemes required to be a key contributor for Texas's interior defensive line rotation early on this fall.

Most of January's 30 defensive snaps he's taken for the Longhorns early this season have been in the 2i or three-technique at defensive tackle. He's been impactful at times this season, plugging running lanes and helping to free up other pass rushers at EDGE and outside backer to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Outside of garbage time and fourth-quarter reps while Texas was up late in games against Colorado State and UTSA early this season, January has only barely taken over a dozen defensive snaps.

But it appears that January's live-game reps in more critical situations for Texas's defensive line rotation have picked up. In Texas's win over UTSA last weekend, January took a season-high nine defensive snaps outside of garbage time, three of which were on key situations on third down.

Something particularly of note for January's alignment snaps from the past couple of weeks is where he's played pre-snap. Against ULM, January played a season-high four defensive snaps as a true zero-tech nose tackle. As he gets more comfortable between playing more zero and 2i-techniques for Texas's iDL this fall, he'll see his role and production continue to grow.

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