Vance Bedford doesn’t like freshmen. He never has.

He’s coached in the NFL. He didn’t like rookies. Now he coaches at Texas. Hasn’t changed his mind.

His reasoning is simple: “They don’t know anything.”

Bedford is stretching the truth, of course. He’s thrived on newcomers throughout his coaching career. If he hated them that much, he wouldn’t have given starting jobs to guys like Janoris Jenkins, Donovan Warren, Charles Tillman or Mike Brown in their first years.

Still, Texas’ defensive coordinator probably wasn't exaggerating this spring when he called the prospect of filling a two-deep with freshmen “very scary.” That’s a predicament the Longhorns must face in 2015, like it or not.

After losing nine senior leaders, a first-round draft pick and more career starts (403) off his roster than any other Big 12 program this offseason, Texas coach Charlie Strong enters his second year knowing he’ll have to lean on inexperienced talent that must keep developing. And he probably knows he’ll have to play the freshmen.

“You go through spring practice and tell the players that if you lose a position, it’s your fault,” Strong said in April. “Because when those freshmen get on campus, we’re going to take a hard look at them.”

So far, 21 of Texas’ 25 incoming freshmen are already enrolled and working out with the team. They’ll spend the summer trying to prove they belong. Don’t be surprised if the majority of them are playing this fall.

The short list? Start with Malik Jefferson, who flashed game-changing talent and instincts during his spring game debut. He'll get help at linebacker from Anthony Wheeler and possibly Cecil Cherry or Cameron Townsend.

On offense, Texas should get early help from Chris Warren III and Kirk Johnson at running back. John Burt, Ryan Newsome and DeAndre McNeal at receiver. Connor Williams and Patrick Vahe on the offensive line.

And then there are Bedford’s kids in the secondary, the next generation of “DBU.” Before they arrived in Austin, he urged all five of his newcomers – corners Holton Hill, Kris Boyd and Davante Davis and safeties DeShon Elliott and P.J. Locke -- to take this opportunity seriously and bring their best.

“On paper -- it's just paper -- they're very talented young people,” Bedford said. “That's just paper. So from what we’ve seen, we’ve told them you’re not coming here to be on the bench. We didn’t come in here to redshirt you. We’re bringing you in right now to give us competition and, if you’re good enough, to get out there and play.”

On paper, Texas could end up having more than 20 true or redshirt freshmen on its depth chart by the end of August. Most of them would come from a top-10 rated class that included 14 ESPN 300 recruits, though such rankings stopped mattering a month ago when they joined the team. Now it’s all a matter of proving how quickly they can catch up and how soon they can be trusted.

“If you’re good enough to get out there and play, that means you’re good enough to help us win,” Bedford said. “That’s the attitude we want. If we don’t have that kind of attitude, we’ve recruited the wrong type of people for the University of Texas.”

Most of these newcomers picked Texas right as the 6-7 season was ending, knowing full well how much rebuilding is still left. They share Warren’s confidence that this class has more than enough talent to get the program turned around and back on top.

“Some of us will have to get caught up to speed, but a lot of us have the ability,” Warren said. “We’re all willing to take the coaching and are able to go into college with a mindset that we’re going to do something. We’re going there to do a job.”

He points specifically to Jefferson and Newsome as the kinds of guys with enough personality and maturity to set the tone for this group of rookies. Truth is, how quickly the freshmen find success could have a substantial impact on Texas’ recruiting efforts.

Jefferson was recruited to be the face of the franchise. He and his new buddies are among the Longhorns’ biggest selling points for the future. If they start playing up to the hype as true freshmen, recruits will take notice.

But don't go overboard on expectations. They're still rookies. If they're all over the field for Texas this fall, they'll certainly take their lumps and learn their lessons. As Texas' defensive coordinator put it this spring, the Longhorns are going to be plenty happy to have future stars like Jefferson in the long term.

"In the short term," Bedford said, "he's a freshman."