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Despite stars moving on, Texas' secondary is blossoming into arguablly the deepest group on the team

by: Evan Vieth08/01/25
Duane Akina
Duane Akina (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Usually, when a team loses a Thorpe Award winner, a second-round pick safety, and its No. 3 corner to the NFL, the secondary is seen as a position that must be rebuilt. Yet somehow, after losing 2,000 combined snaps and 10 interceptions from last year’s team, Texas’ secondary looks the best it’s been in nearly 20 years.

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Of course, you have to start with the returners. Despite losing two starters in Jahdae Barron and Andrew Mukuba, the Longhorns return five players who started games in the secondary last season.

The first name from the list has to be team leader and star safety Michael Taaffe, but talent and experience follow him in the safety room with Jelani McDonald and Derek Williams. Entering year three in the program, the duo has played nearly 1,000 combined snaps in burnt orange and have started opposite Taaffe and Mukuba before. If not for an injury suffered in the Oklahoma game last season, Williams would be seen as one of the best returning safeties in the SEC. Health has to be there, but both he and McDonald bring complementary skill sets to Taaffe on the back end of the defense.

At CB, Texas returns projected All-SEC junior Malik Muhammad, a former top-five CB in the class of 2023 who has started since his freshman season. It still needs to fully come together for the Dallas product looking to lock down the boundary in relief of Barron, but the building blocks are in place to replace Barron. Opposite him—or potentially in the nickel—is Jaylon Guilbeau, a veteran on the defense who played that coveted STAR position in 2024 but may be moved outside in 2025. Remind you of someone?

Guilbeau won’t be Barron-level, but he has the chops and speed to play on the outside.

But where this defensive back group becomes most impressive is after the starting five, one that was named as the best in the nation entering the 2025 season by PFF.

Texas’ No. 2s are an impressive group. True sophomore Kobe Black was a top-40 recruit in last year’s class, following similar talent levels to Muhammad with a year less experience. While he may end up starting for the Longhorns, he’s currently joined by Warren Roberson on the outside, a four-star entering his third season in Austin. Usually, those levels of players aren’t your No. 4s. Lastly, Wardell Mack has worked in the STAR since he stepped foot on campus last year and is yet another notable four-star from the ’24 class. At a program like Texas, starting your career at STAR is a compliment from the staff, trusting your athleticism and football IQ.

But these players are being heavily tested by this new recruiting class. Usually, a top-five cornerback like Kade Phillips is at least the No. 4 corner as soon as they hit campus, but Phillips is not even on the two-deep. All four corners ranked ahead of him in the ’25 class are expected to jump the line at their respective schools, but Texas has just too much talent for that.

Additionally, you can’t escape the hype that Graceson Littleton has garnered in his little time at Texas. Similar to Mack, he was put in the STAR immediately and has shown like one. There’s a chance he actually starts at the position, but that may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Either way, those two, alongside RS FR Santana Wilson, would be on the two-deep of pretty much any other team in the nation. Alabama is probably the only other unit with this kind of depth.

Texas is eight to nine deep at CB, depending on who plays at STAR, and talent continues to show up at safety. Texas has a top-two safety from the last two recruiting classes in Xavier Filsaime and Jonah Williams, but the two-sport athlete may not even be the fifth-choice safety with high-effort sophomore Jordon Johnson-Rubell. Earning playing time in six games as a freshman three-star is extremely impressive, especially in the room that Texas had last year.

Even with two players expected to redshirt in safety Zelus Hicks and corner Caleb Chester, Texas is legitimately 13-deep in its secondary. In base, that’s over four lines of work. In dime, they have more than two units worth of players who can see the field. That’s unprecedented in this current age of movement in the college football world.

With a brand-new staff in the secondary led by Duane Akina, this may be the most defensive backs we ever see play for Texas in a single year. This group is injury-proof and has the chance to not only be the deepest, but also the most star-filled in the nation.

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Think back to the defensive backs of 2023. Now return to the present. What a difference two years—and the right head coach—can make.

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