The Texas Longhorns may have some big holes to fill on defense but freshman linebacker Malik Jefferson may be doing his best to fill all of them.
Jefferson, the highly-touted recruit from Mesquite Poteet, put on a show in the UT spring game and had a play in which he nearly tackled the running back and quarterback on the same play. He also forced a fumble that ended up being returned for a touchdown.
"He's very athletic, a guy who can run downhill and he's very instinctive," Texas head coach Charlie Strong said of the 6-3, 217-pounder. "He made a ton of plays on Saturday. He's been fun. He's one of those players who wants to get better, has great awareness but wants to work hard and get better."
Jefferson enrolled in January and went through the offseason conditioning program at UT. The Longhorns will need him as they look to fill in for the losses of players like Malcom Brown, Cedric Reed and Jordan Hicks.
The Longhorns were also without several key defenders this spring but Strong is optimistic Texas has the right pieces to get the job done.
"You always want to win the games up front and going through spring practice I think I may have had five defensive linemen out," Strong said. "I will get that group back in the summer. By the time I get to fall camp I should have a fairly healthy football team and a team that's ready to go. Defense is a concern. It's going to be hard to replace Diggs. It's going to be hard to replace Ced Reed, big Malcom. Those guys are going to be hard to replace. The concern right now defensively is to place the right people in those spots and it's going to be tough because you're going to have to play a lot of young guys that haven't played before."
