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Which Texas football players are on track to burn their redshirts in SEC play

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook5 hours agojosephcook89
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Lance Jackson (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Almost the entire 2025 Texas Longhorns recruiting class made an appearance during the Longhorns’ rout of Sam Houston State. For a number of members of that No. 1 ranked group, the contest versus the Bearkats was their fourth game.

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A player can participate in up to four regular season games and still maintain their redshirt. Play one snap in game five, and that uses up a year of eligibility. That’s been a notable event for a few teams that have fired their head coach before the calendar turned to October so far in 2025.

For Texas, though, it’s not something to track as far as the transfer portal goes. Rather, seeing which players are about to burn their redshirt and which players are heading that direction informs how the program views the services of specific first-year players.

Played in four games, will play in a fifth

Without question, all four of these players are essential standard down personnel for the 2025 Texas Longhorns. There should be no hesitation burning these redshirts. Sitting them for the rest of the season will not help Texas in 2025 or in 2026. These are players who are already making impacts on the field and probably aren’t going to be here four years anyway, let alone five.

Littleton starts, and Jackson and Townsend see regular snaps. McCutcheon is in an odd spot as he has filled the fourth wideout role and even moved into the main rotation when DeAndre Moore was out. His services will still be needed, but Emmett Mosley could cut into the snaps he sees going forward.

Has played in three games, will probably play in several more and burn the redshirt

Again, a number of these players have played standard down football for the Longhorns in 2025. Lockett, Phillips, and Terry see more game-in-question snaps than the others, but even a few quality reps in-game to give the starters and backups a breather are worth their weight in gold. Plus, as with the players on track to burn their redshirts at Florida, there aren’t many players on this list who project to be on campus for five years.

Cunningham is in a different situation as his necessity is on special teams. If Texas can use the true freshman as a way to cut down on the snaps some defensive regulars like Michael Taaffe see in the third phase, that will have positive effects for the Longhorns as they attempt to play a lengthy college football season.

Winston and Sharma may see very, very limited action going forward but it will probably be enough to burn through their redshirts.

Two games down…

Of this group, a redshirt could probably do everyone a lot of good but Simon may be too important to keep sidelined. He has answered the call well early at running back considering the bumps and bruises at the position. Barnes and Ffrench may morph into special teams contributors. Charles and Orogbo have bright futures and have flashed in limited action, but the rotation probably ends above them for most conference contests.

One down… and a lot of different names in this category

Redshirt years are in order for Lacey, Hicks, Chester, Brooks, and Coleman.

If Williams is healthy, he needs to be utilized on special teams at a minimum and going forward on defense in needed situations.

Terry is a unique case considering he does provide a level of athleticism not often seen at his size, but if the soft skills of wide receiver don’t come at an SEC level then a year spent on scout team and learning how to be a wideout is necessary.

Haven’t played yet… may not this year

Stewart has yet to suit up for a game, an indication of a health issue.

Coleman and Christian can join the redshirt party.

If every freshman that has played in at least three games suits up and plays against Florida and Oklahoma, that’ll mean 10 of the 25 scholarship true freshman will have appeared for the Longhorns this season with more likely to join them. Early playing time is always an important part of recruiting, and Texas has shown a desire to put freshman on the field and even start them if the situation calls for it.

The four-game redshirt rule does allow a lot of players who need development to get some in-game reps, especially against lower quality opponents. It can also be utilized as a means of leverage with NIL and revenue sharing, though that doesn’t appear to be an issue Texas is having to address. For the most part, players who are good enough to play in several games are good enough to play in the rest of them. The ability to redshirt should not be confused with the need to redshirt.

Texas has a number of true freshmen who have made and will continue to make contributions in 2025. Then in 2026, they’ll justifiably be sophomores while those who needed some development get into the action as redshirt freshmen.

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