On Tuesday, the Texas Longhorns held the team's seventh spring practice, marking the halfway point of drills leading up to the Orange-White game on April 15. In the above video, the team spent a significant portion of practice letting the cornerbacks go against the wide receivers in one-on-one drills.
Here's a catalogue of all the reps between the two position groups:
- Senior wide receiver Jacorey Warrick vs. sophomore cornerback John Bonney -- Warrick wins the rep on a fade route by showing a little shake in his initial stem. Judging by this rep and some other pictures and video of Bonney getting beat and things still aren't clicking for the Houston Lamar product.
- Junior wide receiver Armanti Foreman vs. sophomore cornerback Holton Hill -- Hill reads the slant route here and engulfs the smaller Foreman with his long arms, keeping the wide receiver from getting his body past Hill, which results in Hill deflecting the pass. He's a superstar in the making.
- Sophomore wide receiver John Burt vs. senior cornerback Sheroid Evans -- Burt manages to get inside leverage on the oft-injured sixth year player, using his body and then athleticism to box out Evans and go up to make the catch. Evans is in perfect position, but Burt is simply too big and too strong for him to successfully defend the pass.
- Freshman Collin Johnson vs. junior cornerback Antwuan Davis -- The speed cornerback may have track speed, but Johnson is deceptively fast down the sideline and shows his remarkable ability to track the football, eventually hauling in the catch over his shoulder while remaining in bounds. Expectations are increasing quickly with Johnson, but he's continuing to prove that he's capable of living up to them.
- Sophomore wide receiver DeAndre McNeal vs. Bonney -- McNeal continues to make plays against Bonney and looks a potentially dangerous weapon this year now that he's in shape.
- Foreman vs. Hill -- Watching Hill keep up with the speedy Foreman down the field on a deep route is impressive. There are reports that Foreman's hands have been more reliable this spring, but he is unable to haul in this particular catch.
- Junior wide receiver Dorian Leonard vs. sophomore cornerback Davante Davis -- Leonard catches Davis flat-footed and beats him easily on an inside move.
- Foreman vs. Hill -- The short-area quickness of Foreman allows him to separate on a fade route in the end zone and this time his hands come through for him.
- Burt vs. sophomore cornerback Kris Boyd -- Though Burt attempts to win the battle at the line of scrimmage, Boyd successfully jams his bigger teammate and maintains excellent position, eventually knocking the ball away in the end zone.
- Junior wide receiver Lorenzo Joe vs. sophomore nickel back PJ Locke -- Joe collides hard with Locke, but the smaller player's strength allows him to maintain his ground and deflects the pass when the quarterback fails to put the pass on Joe's outside shoulder.
- Foreman vs. Antwuan Davis -- Davis uses good initial position to keep Foreman from separating and ultimately knocks the pass away.
During the team portion, Warrick catches another touchdown, Antwuan Davis comes down with a highly-contested interception, and Burt makes an impressive diving catch for a touchdown of his own.
Overall, the wide receivers certainly had their moments, but the depth and talent at cornerback was certainly on display and Tuesday's practice provided some further evidence that DBU is back at Texas and in good hands moving forward.