texas longhorns

BREAKING NEWS: texas longhorns are preparing some replacement for…..

Published

1 year ago

January 25, 2024

Tight end was a position of need that TE coach Jeff Banks and the Longhorns addressed in the transfer portal early this offseason. Rising junior tight end Amari Niblack was one of many Alabama departures following the retirement of Nick Saban earlier this month that were snagged via the portal.

Niblack was Alabama’s top receiving tight end in 2023, playing many of his snaps on offense out of the slot or out wide. He can replace what Texas is losing with the departure of All-Big 12 junior Ja’Tavion Sanders. Niblack is expected to be the top receiving tight end threat while rising senior Gunnar Helm gives Texas’s offense a reliable blocking tight end who can also contribute in the passing game.

The addition of Niblack was a necessary move for Sarkisian, Banks, and the Longhorns to prevent any significant drop off in the passing offense after the loss of Sanders to the NFL Draft this offseason. Outside of Helm and Niblack, Texas doesn’t have any tight ends on the roster in 2024 with any meaningful live-game reps at the collegiate level. The bulk of the other Texas tight ends, such as redshirt freshman Will Randle, redshirt freshman Spencer Shannon, and early enrollee Jordan Washington, are expected to contribute in the next couple of years as they continue to develop. But none of those three freshman tight ends have any sort of proven live-game experience.

The only exception to that is rising senior Juan Davis. The fourth-year tight end Davis is the most experienced player for the Longhorns in this position group after Helm and Niblack on the depth chart. Davis does have multiple years of practice and camp reps under his belt in Sarkisian’s offense. He’s also taken limited reps in the last few seasons on offense and special teams for Texas. Davis is the last holdover in this tight end room from the Tom Herman era, other than Helm. The difference between Helm and Davis is that the former of those two tight ends earned a role as a blocking tight end and made an impact in live-game scenarios for the Longhorns as a blocker and a receiver in the last couple of years.

Davis always had the tools necessary to become a receiving tight end threat in this offense. But he’s been consistently buried on the depth chart at tight end as Sarkisian and Banks have brought in new tight ends to fill specific roles in the mould this staff wants for the future of this position group. Earlier this offseason, Davis had a quick saga where he entered the transfer portal and promptly withdrew his name, all in the same day. We’ll see what happens with Davis entering the spring after Texas added four scholarship tight ends in the last two recruiting cycles via the high school ranks and the portal. Texas’s linebacker room is in pretty good shape entering the 2024 offseason. This position group returns key contributors from last season, including Freshman All-American Anthony Hill Jr., junior Morice Blackwell Jr., and super senior David Gbenda. Back to School 2023 - Texas Football Should Be Good This Year: We mean it this time! - Sports - The Austin Chronicle

The Longhorns also got some valuable experience and depth at linebacker via the portal with the addition of the former Alabama Crimson Tide junior Kendrick Blackshire. The 6-foot-2 and 245-pound Blackshire brings some much-needed size to the middle linebacker position for the Longhorns in the SEC in 2024.

The only big loss Texas experienced at linebacker this offseason is All-American senior Jaylan Ford. But Ford entering the NFL Draft this spring was expected. Texas has prepared for this with the development of rising sophomore Liona Lefau, who is expected to compete for the starting job at mike linebacker this spring. There is somewhat of a youth movement occurring at the linebacker position for co-DC’s/LB coaches Pete Kwiatkowski, Johnny Nansen, and the Longhorns this offseason. Hill is a future early-round NFL Draft pick who will lead this group into the SEC in 2024.

Hill had already surpassed Gbenda on the depth chart at will linebacker late last season. After Gbenda started the season’s first eight games, Hill started five of the final six. Expect Hill to assume that starting spot for good in 2024.

Lefau also has the potential to be an all-conference caliber starter at mike linebacker for multiple years for the Longhorns. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the impact Blackwell has on this defensive front at sam linebacker. Blackwell gives the Longhorns the versatility. He’s a combination of a cover linebacker, thanks to his experience at safety before converting positions a couple of years ago, and a hard-hitting defender who can sniff out the ball carrier and contest space comfortably. But spots on the two-deep aren’t guaranteed at linebacker for anyone outside of maybe Hill at the weakside position. Everyone has to earn their spots, even the upperclassmen at linebacker, in camp.

Texas has multiple young former blue-chip recruits from the 2023 class who will be expected to push for spots on the two-deep this year, namely redshirt freshman Derion Gullette, Tausili Akana, and S’Maje Burrell.

Texas’s combination of proven experience with upperclassmen like Gbenda and Blackshire along with the emerging underclassmen shows that the linebacker room is in good shape now and in the future.

After outperforming expectations with a College Football Playoff berth and a Big 12 Championship in 2023, Texas football has set a high standard for itself in the SEC in 2024. Head coach Steve Sarkisian has undergone a process to keep Texas among the top contenders in college football entering their first year of competition in the SEC this upcoming season. Sarkisian and the Longhorns staff will return over half of their starters from last year’s squad in 2024. In some of the spots on the roster where the Longhorns lost key pieces, the staff turned to the NCAA Transfer Portal to add immediate impact starters.

Texas also has a record number of early enrollees (18) from the 2024 signing class who will participate in spring ball. Among those 18 early enrollees are many talented former blue-chip recruits who can make an instant impact this upcoming season. It’s easy to see why Sarkisian and the Longhorns are expected to be a contender in the SEC and for the new 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024. Texas is developing players more consistently and putting more guys in the NFL year-over-year under Sarkisian in the last couple of years than it did in the prior under under the last few coaching regimes. Part of the growth of this program is younger and more talented players eclipsing the more seasoned veterans on the depth chart with more earned reps in camp and practice. Texas had multiple true freshmen make an immediate impact in 2023. And that trend is likely to continue when the Longhorns enter the SEC in 2024.

Here are three Longhorns players who could be eclipsed on the depth chart in 2024.Much of Texas’s efforts to reload the roster early this offseason have concentrated on moving this secondary into a new era entering the SEC in 2024. Texas signed the best defensive back class in the nation in 2024 in the 247Sports Composite. And the Longhorns added a big-time DB to upgrade the secondary in former Clemson Tigers junior safety Andrew Mukuba via the portal.

Texas added seven new scholarship players to the secondary in 2024.

Consequentially, Texas lost multiple safeties with starting experience to the transfer portal. Senior safety Jerrin Thompson, senior Kitan Crawford, and senior Jalen Catalon all left the program to find more playing time elsewhere via the transfer portal this offseason.

Since Texas lost three safeties who started multiple games last season, only two are left on the roster who started any games in 2023. Rising redshirt junior Michael Taaffe and sophomore Derek Williams Jr. are the only returning players at safety who started a game last season for Texas.

Williams made a big impact for Texas as the team’s best cover safety last season. He’s expected to be a potential All-SEC performer for Texas as a staple of the safety position in 2024. Horns247 tabbed Williams as the emerging leader to watch for Texas at safety entering winter workouts this offseason. Meanwhile, Taaffe was among the steadier presences at safety for Texas last season. While he does have limitations athletically compared to other highly touted safeties on the roster, such as freshman early enrollee Xavier Filsaime and Williams, Taaffe was an important contributor who always knew where to be for Texas in the last couple of years. What could ultimately lead to Taaffe losing snaps entering the 2024 season compared to the previous two seasons at Texas is the return of senior defensive back Jahdae Barron for a fifth year. Barron was arguably Texas’s best defensive back last season and their best and most versatile cover guy. What Barron’s return for the 2024 season means for Taaffe is that Mukuba could move over to safety instead of playing at nickel this fall. The original plan for Mukuba when Texas got him from the portal was to assume the starting reps at nickel. But that plan assumed Barron wouldn’t be returning for another year with the Longhorns in 2024.