Texas Football: 5 spring 2019 breakout candidates

Can Texas football take that next step after beating Georgia? Let’s take a look at five breakout candidates to watch for the Longhorns this spring.

Tom Herman has a talented team at his fingertips for 2019.

Texas is coming off a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia — a game which no one expected the Longhorns to win — and a 10-4 campaign. It doesn’t seem like a remarkable step in the right direction considering they still had four losses, but the Longhorns are trending up.

Herman has worked wonders with this program after it was left in a shaky place after Charlie Strong’s tenure and he has some young guys ready to step up and take the reins.

Who could break out for the Longhorns this spring?

With Anthony Wheeler gone, Tom Herman has a big hole in the middle of his defense. The Longhorns are looking for an inside linebacker to fill Wheeler’s place and Ayodele Adeoye has been impressing the head coach this offseason.

Adeoye is one of the bigger linebackers out there, standing 6-foot-1, 250 pounds but Herman admitted that his redshirt freshman has been working hard on his body to make sure it’s all good weight. He’s also stated that Adeoye is moving much better and is looking like the kid he recruited who he dubbed one of the best middle linebacker recruits he’s ever seen.

The Longhorns will hope he lives up to the hype in 2019, potentially bolting into that starting lineup. He was listed as the No. 119 overall recruit and sixth-best inside linebacker in the 2018 class, according to 247Sports, and committed knowing he’d have a chance to play early.

Maintaining that redshirt, Adeoye could be a nightmare for opponents for years.