This week I'm Scattershooting while thinking about the Texas football roster. In the second of a multi-part series dedicated to breaking down the roster, I'm breaking down the returning Longhorns in numerical order beginning with No. 21 Duke Catalon and ending with No. 29 Sheroid Evans.

Catalon has everything it takes to be a big-time back at Texas if he can stay healthy, which hasn't always been the case for him in his brief career.

*****

Duke Catalon (No. 21)

If you talk to folks who watched him practice last season, they'll tell you the former Top247 running back is as talented as any ball carrier the Longhorns have on the roster. The redshirt freshman is big enough (5-10, 202), tough enough and fast enough to be a workhorse back for a big-time program like Texas; there's a reason schools like LSU and Florida State tried to pry him away from the Longhorns during his senior season.

But the goal for Catalon is to stay healthy. A clean bill of health -- he's had toe injuries in his past and hamstring and knee issues hampered him last fall and spring -- would put him in a position to force the coaches to give him carries. I watched Catalon play cornerback as a senior at Aldine Eisenhower and thought that he's too good of an athlete not help the Longhorns somewhere.

As long as he's healthy, he can be a potential difference maker at running back. That said, he could quickly find himself lost in the shuffle with three new freshman backs in the room.

*****

Duke Thomas (No. 21)

Here's one nugget to chew on regarding the Copperas Cove product: he's only in his fourth year of playing defensive back after being recruited to the position by the Texas staff based largely on a camp workout. I go back to what one of his coaches at Cove told me when Thomas was forced to play quarterback during his final two seasons at the school: If he was a defensive back full-time, he'd have had a chance to be one of the most highly-recruited players at that position and perhaps the best to ever come through the school (that same staff produced All-Pro cornerback Charles Tillman).

Perhaps that's why Thomas' junior season had a feast-or-famine feel to it as he continues his evolution as a player. For the postive interceptions he made against wins against Kansas and Iowa State and the four pass breakups he had in a victory over Texas Tech (he ranked eighth in the Big 12 in passes defensed with 13 last season), he was burned for the game-winning score against UCLA and also had a tough outing against Kansas State.

Maybe another year to learn the position will result in Thomas evolving into one of the best cornerbacks in the Big 12. If he does, the Texas defense will take a huge step in the right direction.

Johnson didn't see much action last year due to a suspension and injury, but he's looking to prove something as a senior.

*****

Daje Johnson (No. 23)

There's not a player on the roster who exemplifies a feast-or-famine career the way Johnson's time at Texas does. He's got plenty of big plays on his resume -- an 84-yard touchdown against Baylor his freshman year and an 85-yard punt return during Texas' only win over Oklahoma this decade -- but he's also been suspended four times in his career and suffered two injuries that cost him time on the field.

It's easy to be enamored with the big play -- Johnson averages 10.5 yards per play in his career, including returns -- and he's got six career plays of 45 yards or more. He did, however, have ball security issues in the spring and struggled with his consistency. So how much can the coaches truly count on him to make him a focal point of the attack?

He's at least put himself in a position to be a factor by abiding by the rules and regulations Charlie Strong operates his program under, which he should be commended for. Other than his presence on the roster, what Johnson does in his final season seems to be a complete crapshoot.

*****

Nick Rose (No. 23)

Rose's backflip field goal not only went viral, it's one of the most impressive things you'll see. Now if the Longhorns can just get Rose to put the ball through the uprights when it matters in a game, they'll be in business.

No disrespect to Rose's flair for the awesome, but Texas needs better production than 14-of-21 on kicks. If there's a silver lining about Rose's first season at the full-time kicker, it's that he made 10-of-13 kicks to close the season, which coincides with Nate Boyer, as Rose's snapper on field goals last season, telling me had to have a long talk with the kicker about his approach and confidence when called upon.

If Texas gets the Rose who made five field goals from 40-plus yards down the stretch for the duration of the season, it could mean the difference between Texas being 6-6 or 8-4 at the end of the year. Until the offense catches up with the defense, Strong's teams have to find a way to play better on special teams.

Bonney claimed the starting nickelback job in the spring, a job he'll likely hold onto going into fall camp.

*****

John Bonney (No. 24)

Texas has had good luck with players from Houston Lamar: Rod Babers, Drew Kelson and Brian Orakpo all made their mark on the Forty Acres. Now Bonney (5-10, 184), who played on the final Lamar team to carry the 'Redskins' nickname, will look to do the same after a redshirt year last season.

He got off to a good start in the spring by claiming the starting nickelback spot. A long, rangy player, Bonney's biggest asset he'll bring to the table is his football acumen. Bonney's ability to understand angles, leverage, be physical and put himself in a position to make a play on the ball can help him excel.

Bonney's long-term position could wind up being safety since his instincts and ability in coverage figure to play well at that position. For now, he'll take his shot at following a long line of Longhorn greats starting with Nathan Vasher and going all the way to Quandre Diggs who manned the nickelback spot. Some close to the program like his chances of succeeding there.

*****

Antwuan Davis (No. 25)

An elite sprinter as a high schooler at Bastrop (he posted a personal best of 10.36 in the 100-meter dash and was a consistent sub-10.6 sprinter), Davis still has good upside because his raw tools can't be coached. His size (5-11, 193), length and recovery speed all lend themselves to be able to play cornerback in today's game against spread offenses as a long, physical cornerback.

Davis, whose best attribute on the field has always been his man cover skills, was solid in the spring when called upon to fill in for Thomas. The one thing he'll need to avoid are the injuries that have bit him during his career -- a back injury in high school, a wrist injury late in 2013 and a foot injury last season -- since he'll face a lot of competition from the freshmen who are on campus.

One of the remaining pieces of the 2013 recruiting class who can help that group avoid being a total wash, Davis can add quality depth at cornerback.

Colbert entered 2014 as a starter at safety, but now it looks being a special teams ace is how he'll make his mark within the program.

*****

Adrian Colbert (No. 26)

Like Davis, Colbert was a tremendous track athlete in high school. That's how he first got familiar with Texas as the Longhorns recruited him for track until he blew up as a senior. But Colbert's track impressive size/speed combination (6-1, 206) never translated to the field the way it was expected to. Now, he's entering his junior season having to battle for a spot in the two-deep.

Colbert tied for the team lead in special teams tackles, which might not seem like a big deal, but he did make one of the team's biggest special teams plays of the season. He made a great play as the gunner on the punt team to down a punt deep in West Virginia territory, setting the stage for Cedric Reed's safety on the next snap from scrimmage.

Colbert appears to have lost the starting safety spot he opened the 2014 season with, but that doesn't mean he's incapable of making an impact on the field. As bad as the Longhorns were on special teams last season, they could use Colbert's veteran leadership on kick coverage units to help bring along the young players who can drastically improve those units.

*****

Roderick Bernard (No. 27)

It remains to be seen if Bernard will see the field after blowing out his knee in the road loss to Kansas State last season. A straight-line speed burner who didn't seem to have a defined role on the roster -- he was said to struggle consistently catching the ball early on last fall -- Bernard found one as the go-to kickoff returner before his injury.

His 26-yard return against Iowa State was praised by Strong for setting up the game-winning drive. He only averaged 19.1 yards per return as a true freshman, but his presence back deep on kickoffs is something the coaches gave the unit a serious lift.

*****

Evans suffered a serious knee injury in the spring that could cost him most, if not all of his fifth season in the program.

Nick Jordan (No. 28)

When the previous staff offered Jordan, he was picked out of a group of kickers the staff scouted extensively. That group included Jaden Oberkrom and Josh Lambert, now two of the best kickers in the Big 12 at TCU and West Virginia, respectively. The former Coppell kicker has been on the Texas campus for three seasons, and he hasn't seriously kicked in a game since 2012.

Jordan redshirted in 2013 and was injured last season. But unless Rose has a meltdown during a game and simply can't get the job done, it's hard to imagine Jordan regaining the starting kicking job. He was 9-of-15 on field goals in 2012; a 40-yard boot through the uprights in the Alamo Bowl win over Oregon State was his longest of that season.

The prior regime thought Jordan needed a redshirt year to clear his head and watch Anthony Fera, who was a finalist for the Groza Award during Jordan's year out. But it remains to be seen if Jordan will ever get a chance to show off what he learned.

*****

Sheroid Evans (No. 29)

Another player who might not get to put his skills on display in 2015 is Evans, but for a very different reason. His spring knee injury is expected to keep him on the shelf for some time. A source told Horns247 after the injury Evans was expected to miss the entire 2015 season, but Strong told reporters at a Houston Touchdown Club gathering earlier this month Evans was several weeks away from returning.

In the weeks since Strong's comments, sources have remarked they were surprised he even mentioned a return timeline for Evans. After being perhaps the most improved player in the entire program during the spring of 2013, Evans hasn't seen the field since tearing his ACL against Iowa State that October.

He's always had the physical tools and the kind of upside that could make him an elite cornerback at the college level. It's just highly unlikely the burnt orange faithful will see that talent come to fruition on the Forty Acres.

Click HERE for last week's Scattershooting roster breakdown from No. 1 to No. 19.



