“We’ve really tried to recruit a specific skill set, a specific body type — we’ve got really good length, we’re really athletic. We can run in the secondary.”
In a program built in head coach Steve Sarkisian’s image that just made back-to-back College Football Playoff semifinal appearances, the defensive backs look the part as much as any position on the Forty Acres.
“When you look at the secondary as a whole, just body type, skill set, ability, corner, Star, safeties, I would argue it’s probably one of our better, if not our best, looking position on the team,” Sarkisian said last week.
With Sarkisian entering his fifth season, it’s the result of a lot of intention and recruiting success orchestrated by Terry Joseph and Blake Gideon, whose collective ability to develop the talent they secured over four years earned both promotions with Joseph returning to his hometown to coach with the New Orleans Saints and Gideon taking over as the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech.
“It’s been a group that we’ve really tried to recruit a specific skill set, a specific body type — we’ve got really good length, we’re really athletic. We can run in the secondary,” Sarkisian said.
The combination of length and athleticism has produced a versatile group that can play the aggressive style of coverage that Sarkisian has long wanted to reflect his attacking “All Gas No Brakes” mentality on offense.
Reaching that point took some time, as Sarkisian spoke publicly about his desire to play more man coverage heading into his second season to benefit the pass rush, but it wasn’t until 2024 that Joseph and Gideon were truly able to put the right pieces together with Jahdae Barron winning the Thorpe Award as an outside cornerback with back-end support from Michael Taaffe and a resurgent Andrew Mukuba, back in Austin after three years at Clemson.
Barron and Mukuba are off to the NFL, but Taaffe returned for his redshirt senior season after the loss to Ohio State disrupted his plans to win a national championship and turn pro. Junior Manny Muhammad is back as well following his emergence as a starter. Junior Jelani McDonald is a popular pick among his teammates to become a breakout star this season. Junior Derek Williams is working his way back from his season-ending knee injury. Senior Jaylon Guilbeau is working at outside cornerback this spring after playing 532 snaps in the nickel last year.
And there’s all that length and athleticism among the younger and more unproven players, too.
“It’s allowing us to play a style over there that… I’ve always wanted to be very aggressive, guys that can do multiple things, but also can help on special teams. So it’s been a good group so far,” Sarkisian said.
With the losses of Barron, Mukuba, and backup Gavin Holmes, Texas is looking for development from junior Warren Roberson, sophomore Kobe Black, and redshirt freshman Wardell Mack, who is working at the Star position with early enrollee Graceson Littleton and redshirt sophomore Ryan Niblett, who is undergoing the team’s biggest position change in moving from offense to defense. Littleton is one of five defensive backs signed by Texas in the 2025 class.
While Sarkisian characterized Black’s spring as “good,” Roberson received an “excellent” grade during an important offseason. The Red Oak product was a core special teams contributor across five units last year, playing a total of 299 snaps in the third phase, but he also committed five penalties. The fact that Roberson kept his place on those teams despite the frequent mistakes demonstrated the staff’s commitment to his development that should pay off with Roberson becoming a factor in the cornerback rotation this year.
According to Sarkisian and Taaffe, Roberson is on the right trajectory this spring.
“Warren Roberson is playing really, really good man coverage. He’s showing a great deal of maturity and in zone coverage, he’s disguising his pictures, so he’s a guy to look out for,” Taaffe said on Wednesday.
The popular breakout pick among players and former players is McDonald, who moved into a bigger role in the safety rotation after Williams went down with his knee injury and also spent time as a big nickel against Arizona State, which accounted for nearly half of his snaps playing over the slot in 2024.
“He really is a fantastic player. We utilized him some at nickel last year where we got out of going to base defense, necessarily, where Jelani could be somewhat of a hybrid for us versus teams where we’re getting some bigger personnel, some 12 personnel,” Sarkisian said last month.
“All those things kind of remain to be seen, and how we evolve as a defense, and where we go, what this looks like, and how we grow, but he’s a versatile guy that could definitely play safety or play Star. He really could be a dime linebacker for us in some of our dime packages.”
A standout in a recent scrimmage, McDonald was praised for his versatility by the most versatile defensive back on the 2024 team, Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron.
“He’s everything. He’s what you need. He could play slot, he could play dime, he could literally play it all, safety, so he’s very versatile as well,” Jahdae Barron said at Texas Pro Day.
In 2025, McDonald could play a similar role as the defensive back most capable of playing multiple positions for the Longhorns.
“We’ve tried to recruit to versatile players with high football IQ, right? And if I could, if I could recreate Jahdae Barron, I would because the guy played corner, he played safety, played Star, he played dime linebacker, and had an impact in all those things. But Jelani, giving us versatility at three different positions will be huge. Where the dust settles and what it all looks like by the time the fall rolls around, we’ll see.”
Count Taaffe as someone who believes in McDonald, no matter where he ends up playing.
“He’s gonna put on a show this year,” Taaffe said.
With McDonald cross training at nickel to further bolster his versatility and Guilbeau developing his skill set outside, Texas is positioning itself to match the versatility of last year’s secondary while affording the coaching staff the ability to make situational changes to better match up with opponents.
The biggest adjustment for every player in the secondary is the turnover on the coaching staff with DBU architect Duane Akina returning as the defensive passing game coordinator, joined by Galena Park North Shore alum Mark Orphey coming from Rutgers as the cornerbacks coach, and Keynodo Hudson receiving a promotion to coaching the nickels after serving as a football analyst last year.
“They’ve got three brand new coaches over there with Coach Akina, with Coach Orphey, Coach Hudson, so there’s a there’s been a transition for that, too, even for our veteran players. It’s a new voice, right? There’s new terminology there. There’s some subtleties that we’re tweaking with the system,” Sarkisian said.
One of the defining characteristics of the much-improved secondary from 2023 to 2024 was the ability to communicate effectively before the snap to avoid post-snap coverage busts, a key point of emphasis this offseason to maintain that standard.
“It’s been really good, though, so far, and I’ve been impressed. But just like the offensive line, two steps forward, we can play coverage that’s great for two plays, then we can’t bust one and give up a big one. So we’re trying to try to find that right continuity,” Sarkisian said.