Texas football's secondary is getting a much needed break

It’s hard to find a football player who doesn’t enjoy the bye week.

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Time off, a rest for your body, and a chance for a hard reset as you approach deeper into the season. Probably golf too. A lot of golf, at least for Arch and Taaffe.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian approached Monday’s press conference with a similar amount of positivity. He looks forward to the reset. It allows him personally to watch some more film and general football around the country, as well as give his players the rest they need.

But Sarkisian made a point about one group in particular: his secondary.

“I think in the secondary we got a little nicked up last week, and it happened kind of quick,” Sarkisian said.

Texas was without all three of Kobe Black, the first-choice CB off the bench, and key depth pieces Xavier Filsaime and Warren Roberson. That was three of Texas’s main eight defensive backs in rotation from the first three weeks of the season. Even with the talent that this group has, it’s hard to shoulder that load.

“Now we got Jonah (Williams) back in there, but getting those three guys back, I think, will be important for us, and finding that right combination of guys that are frontline players in the secondary, who are kind of the backups, and then who’s going to be real contributors on special teams,” Sarkisian said.

Williams played in his first collegiate football game this past week, registering 11 snaps after dealing with a shoulder injury that lingered from the spring, when he was a late-year starter for the Texas baseball team.

This is truly the only part of Texas’ defense that has dealt with injury this year. Alex January has been down for the past three games on the defensive line, but that’s just one player, not four, who have dealt with lingering or ongoing injuries.

It’s also interesting to hear Sarkisian talk about getting the “right combination of guys that are frontline players.” What does that mean? It feels assumed that the quintet of

Malik Muhammad
Jaylon Guilbeau
Graceson Littleton
Michael Taaffe
Jelani McDonald

are your starters going forward. They have been for all four games, and they’re five of the six players on this Texas defense with north of 140 snaps on the year. But let’s expand on this a little.

The trio of Muhammad, Taaffe, and McDonald is all but set in stone. It’s hard to argue there’s any secondary trio in the country that is as talented as this bunch. There’s a world where all three are picked in the first two days of the 2026 NFL Draft.

That leaves some flexibility at STAR and CB2. That CB2 spot is one to identify, as Guilbeau is probably the least naturally skilled player of this group of five. Is Black gunning to start over him behind the scenes?

There’s also the Littleton wrinkle. He played nine snaps on the outside on Saturday, with Wardell Mack filling in at STAR at times.

What Sarkisian probably meant is that Texas is going to start experimenting with matchup-based units in the secondary. McDonald has the flexibility to move down into the STAR position against run-heavy teams, while Derek Williams is getting healthier each week he moves away from last year’s season-ending injury and will garner more safety snaps going forward.

Black and Guilbeau can play as a 2A, 2B duo, with Littleton getting more reps there as the season progresses. This unit of seven players seems like the true core of this secondary, but we also saw great developments this weekend.

Jordon Johnson-Rubell had his second straight strong performance. Kade Phillips led the team in snaps. Mack was involved in a ton of plays. That’s not to mention Roberson and Filsaime—already guys we saw as contributors—getting healthier going forward. We’ve named 12 players before even getting to someone like Jonah Williams. Even if there’s a clear top seven and back six, that’s more depth than any defensive coordinator could dream of.

It’s a stacked unit, arguably the one with the most NFL talent on this roster, but it’s banged up. The bye couldn’t have come at a better time.