After a strong fall camp, this Texas Longhorns true freshman backed up the hype Saturday vs Ohio State
247Sports’ director of scouting has been high on Texas defensive back Graceson Littleton for over a year now. He made a big jump in the player rankings ahead of national signing day. Then, Littleton backed it up with a strong fall camp. And on Saturday he kept the haters at bay with another head-turning performance […]
247Sports’ director of scouting has been high on Texas defensive back Graceson Littleton for over a year now. He made a big jump in the player rankings ahead of national signing day. Then, Littleton backed it up with a strong fall camp. And on Saturday he kept the haters at bay with another head-turning performance versus Ohio State.
For most of the day Littleton was charged with covering arguably the best player in college football: Jeremiah Smith. And for most of the afternoon, the Texas freshman did just that. Smith finished with six receptions for just 43 yards, but was out of sorts at times, dropping a few easy completions.
Littleton’s presence was loud. And his Saturday earned him an 83.3 grade from Pro Football Focus – the highest by a true freshman cornerback in Week 1.
Graceson Littleton did not shrink in the moment Saturday.
As you can see above, he made plays all day against two of the best wide receivers in the country. He was physical, stayed in phase, and was crafty when defending the pass. It’s hard to do this as a true freshman in Power 4 football much less at Ohio Stadium against the defending national champions.
“Graceson Littleton is a future first-round draft pick,” Orangebloods’ Geoff Ketchum said after the game.
He certainly played like it on Saturday. Head coach Steve Sarkisian said as much on Monday.
“We’ve got a high football IQ defense, whether it’s Anthony (Hill), Liona (Lefau), Ty’Anthony (Smith), Trey (Moore), Michael Taaffe, Jelani (McDonald), Manny Muhammad, Graceson Littleton for a young player, Hero Kanu, Ethan Burke, these guys have a high football IQ.”
Texas cornerbacks coach Keynodo Hudson singled out Littleton earlier this summer during fall camp. Specifically his work with All-American safety, Michael Taaffe.
“He’s a sponge, tremendous work ethic, a football junkie, and he wants to be great. I think that’s contagious with the other kids in the room,” Hudson said of Littleton working with All-American Michael Taaffe.
The defense wasn’t the issue Saturday.
Texas outgained Ohio State and Pete Kwiatkowski’s bunch held Julian Sayin and the Buckeyes in check enough for the offense to make a move. Unfortunately, Ohio State’s defense also came to play and Arch Manning just could not find a rhythm.
Moving forward, I expect to see this defensive unit continue to flourish and for the offense to catch up. All fall camp, Sarkisian and the Texas staff talked about how difficult the defense made it for the offense. This is typical for college football teams, but this Texas unit showed Saturday why some consider it to be the best unit in the sport.
