Watch out for Anthony Hill Jr.

Texas' sophomore speedster is working at middle linebacker as the Longhorns are tasked with filling the massive loss of team leader Jaylan Ford, who had the penchant for being in the right place at the right time.

While Ford will be cashing NFL checks this fall, Hill will hopefully be terrorizing college offenses, though he won’t have the luxury of playing behind T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II, the best defensive-tackle tandem in the country. He'll play alongside veteran David Gbenda, who has moved over from the other side of the ball to carve out a successful college career.

Hill is coming off a freshman campaign where he finished second in solo tackles (40), total tackles (67) and sacks (5½). Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski moved him around the formation last season to take advantage of his explosiveness, but he may be more of a traditional middle his second year on campus.

“Ant has stepped into that role very well,” Gbenda said after Saturday's Orange-White game. “He has improved on his communication and has leaned on me to help him at times. He has done a great job.”

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With the loss of an All-American, the position will be one to watch, given Hill’s upside and penchant for making game-changing plays. Gbenda also mentioned sophomore Liona Lefau as a player who has turned some heads this spring.

“It’s just been a good fun time,” he said. “Of course, we miss Jaylan, but these young guys we have coming in have been doing an exceptional job.”

Post ACL surgery, Jonathon Brooks has huge NFL upside

Who'll draft Brooks?: Jonathon Brooks has first-round ability, but the knee injury that ended his final college season could hurt his draft status.

When the NFL draft rolls around Thursday, I’ll be most interested in seeing where the Texas running back ends up because the team that gets him will get a winner, both on the field and in the locker room. Brooks is the consummate humble superstar, accepting the accolades with humility and ease while keeping his focus on getting better.

It’s what real players do. They keep it all about the game.

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After he shredded his ACL in a November win over TCU, the biggest question centered around if he would declare for the draft or come back to Austin for another season. Brooks threw his name in the draft hat and attacked rehab like he attacked would-be tacklers while running for 1,139 yards and 10 touchdowns. He went pro after turning in the third best rushing performance by a UT running back in the last eight years.

When I spoke with him about his injury at Texas' pro day, the 6-foot, 216-pound Brooks treated what could have been a huge setback with total grace and maturity at age 20 that will serve him well in the pros.

“It’s amazing,” Brooks said. “It’s truly a blessing from God. Honestly, it’s a blessing in disguise, too, for me to focus on the mental and the physical aspect of my body and the part of the game. It’s a blessing to have this injury and still be one of the top running backs.”

Some mock drafts have the Dallas Cowboys selecting Brooks with one of its first two picks (24th or 56th). It’s interesting to note that Dr. Dan Cooper was the surgeon who repaired Brooks' knee. Cooper serves as the Cowboys’ team surgeon.

"Our understanding is that he has a great chance to be ready to not miss anything, start training camp and go to work," Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones told DallasCowboys.com at the NFL spring meetings this month. "We’ll see. I don’t want to preempt anything. I haven’t seen the medical reports, but from a periphery basis from afar, going to the combine and things like that, I think he can be a player that can start first day of training camp. Not start but participate right away.”

Brooks has the look of an overachiever and in this league, that counts for something. He’s been a star at each level of the game so far. That’s no reason to believe that won’t continue.

Durant needs another ring to rise up NBA echelon

Looking for a ring: Fair or not, Kevin Durant won’t get his full due until he wins an NBA championship without Golden State’s Splash Brothers.

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The Texas legend is already a first ballot Hall of Famer, but the current Phoenix Suns star is on pace to go down as one of the unappreciated superstars in the sport’s history because he hasn’t won as the unquestioned alpha dog on his team. Durant is about to make his fourth consecutive Summer Olympics appearance for Team USA on July 26 when the Americans open up with Serbia.

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Durant just started the NBA playoffs. He is on the short list of most decorated athletes ever given his NBA and Team USA success. In all, he has five major championships with those two NBA titles with Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — he was the Finals MVP on both occasions — and also has three Olympic gold medals.

Durant is the fourth Texas player to play in the Olympics — joining Gib Ford (1956 for USA), Jay Arnette (1960 for USA) and Albert Almanza (1960 for Mexico and 1964 for Tokyo) and the first to play in four consecutive Games.

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It could be his easygoing nature or the fact that he wasn’t able to break through and win it all with Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City or James Harden in Brooklyn, but Durant isn’t normally mentioned when it comes to the best to ever do it. Generally regarded as one of the best shooters ever, he doesn’t get the same acclaim we hear for contemporaries like LeBron James, the late Kobe Bryant and retired Hall of Famer Tim Duncan.

It hasn’t helped that Durant has exhibited a thin skin by taking on critics on social media, allegedly at times with fake accounts on the website formerly known as Twitter.

Durant, 35, could reverse some of the perceived disrespect by bringing Phoenix its first NBA title. The Suns have played in only one Finals since league MVP Charles Barkley and Co. lost in six games to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in 1993. The 2024 Suns, a sixth seed, are down 1-0 in their first-round series against No. 3 Minnesota. The odds are against Phoenix winning the series, but a couple of Durant explosions could reverse the trend.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. is working in Jaylan Ford's old spot