One word immediately came to the mind of Charlie Strong when he was asked recently about true freshman wide receiver John Burt.

“Long,” Strong said. “He's long and athletic and catches the ball well.”

Burt has been catching the ball so well he's been running with the No. 1 offense for most of the Longhorns' preseason practices to this point. Texas' biggest presence on the outside last season (John Harris) is gone and given the way he's been practicing thus far it's likely Burt is going to get more than fair chance to try and fill the void.

Texas entered camp with a logjam at wide receiver due to so many unproven commodities at the position but Burt has been one of the standouts among a group of outside receivers from which Marcus Johnson and Armanti Foreman also appear to have separated themselves from the pack. Burt is one of three newcomers expected to garner significant playing time in their debut seasons and all three 2015 signees have made their presence felt in camp thus far.

Ryan Newsome is battling Daje Johnson and Jacorey Warrick for playing time in the slot and has gotten work returning both punts and kickoffs in camp. DeAndre McNeal has the athleticism and aggressiveness to be a factor at tight end and he's put in a ton of work to hone his craft since moving to the position prior to the start of camp.

“When you add to a room, you add competition and we've really upped the ante there,” assistant head coach for offense Shawn Watson said this week. “I love what I see in John Burt. I love what I see in Newsome. I love what I see in DeAndre. Those guys have all added to their rooms that they're in.”

The biggest impact has been made by Burt as the 6-foot-2-inch, 184-pound 2015 Under Armour All-America selection not only has the ability to win jump battles, his deceptive speed and ability after the catch makes him a threat to make a play from anywhere on the field. The word from summer workouts had Burt as arguably the best freshman in the program in terms of consistent performance, an impressive run of workouts in a non-contact setting that's carried over to the preseason.

Texas is three weeks away from the season opener against Notre Dame and at the rate Burt is going the Fighting Irish should plan on seeing the Tallahassee (Fla.) Lincoln product a lot on Sept. 5. If his rate of development goes the way Strong and the Longhorn coaches hope, Texas could be on the verge of an elite receiving corps in relatively short order given the amount of talent in the program in addition to what's on the way.

“The thing about him is he's only going to get better and better,” Strong said. “As he gets stronger he's going to be a really good player.”