Texas ranks No. 1 on Greg McElroy's Top 10 defenses in college football list

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy has high praise for the Texas defense, ranking the Longhorns at No. 1 on his top 10 defenses in college football list heading into the upcoming season.

“The number one defense in college football coming into the season are the Texas Longhorns,” McElroy said. “If you look at what they have, it’s honestly off the charts from a star-power standpoint. Now, they’ve lost some key pieces the last couple of years, notably at defensive tackle. The last couple of years they’ve lost a lot of really good players on the interior of their defensive line, but if you look at the star-power that they return at so many different positions, I don’t think there’s a team in the country that has a higher ceiling than Texas with the amount of guys that can take over the game and absolutely wreck the opponents’ offense.”

Last season, Texas allowed just 15.3 points per game (third best in NCAA), 283.7 yards per game (third best in NCAA) and recorded 46 team sacks (fourth best in NCAA). It is returning 61% of its defensive production this season.

“We will start with the guys that can play multiple positions, like Anthony Hill. The guy’s a complete superstar, I think he’s the best linebacker in the country. Ridiculously athletic. Amazing against the run and the pass. He’s versatile enough to in a third down situation get to the line of scrimmage. He can cover. This guy can do absolutely anything on the football field. He should be one of the best players in America this upcoming season.”

Hill, who is entering his junior season, was one of the key contributors on a Texas team that won two College Football Playoff games last season. At linebacker, the Denton, TX native recorded 59 tackles, eight sacks, four forced fumbles and caught one interception.

“The return of Trey Moore was massive,” McElroy continued. There was a time where you thought he would be going to the NFL. He was great UTSA a few years ago, where he had 14 sacks in 2023. In his first year at Texas, it was pretty good. It wasn’t elite until the season kind of went along. As he was kind of playing a little bit more off the ball and do more things as far as pass rush situations, his impact became significant as the game went along. He’s got a lot of position flexibility and a lot of versatility on that side of the ball so he can do a lot of things and create a lot of problems.”

As McElroy stated, Moore turned it on in the second half of the season. After totaling just nine tackles and no sacks in the first five games, he recorded 17 tackles and 2.5 sacks in the next six. He was a star in Texas’ Cotton Bowl victory over Arizona State, totaling five tackles and two sacks.

“Finally, there’s Colin Simmons,” McElroy said. “Certainly last but not least, this guy is ridiculous. I’m not sure there’s a more feared pass rusher in the SEC, outside of maybe [South Carolina EDGE] Dylan Stewart. But he’s expected to take on an even bigger role here in 2025. If Anthony Hill is in the middle, you got Colin Simmons on one side and Trey Moore on the other, I don’t know what you do. I really don’t know how you’re going to be able to adequately defend those three guys.”

McElroy’s entire list is below:

HM. Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee
10. Clemson
9. Oregon
8. Michigan
7. Oklahoma
6. Alabama
5. Notre Dame
4. Georgia
3. Penn State
2. Ohio State
1. Texas