Derek Williams’ road back to Texas has been anything but straight, but the Longhorns are finally seeing the payoff.
What looked like a simple return from knee surgery last season turned into a longer climb for the safety, whose production and snap count never fully snapped back when he rejoined the lineup in 2025. That made Monday’s comments from Steve Sarkisian especially telling as Texas gets ready for Saturday’s trip to LSU, where Williams will head back to his home state with a much different role than the one he had before the injury.
Williams nearly ended up somewhere else. Instead, a coaching shakeup on the Texas defensive staff helped keep him in Austin, and the Longhorns are now benefiting from that call. The New Iberia, Louisiana, native is back in familiar territory, but this time he arrives as a player who had to fight through the kind of reset that can derail a career.
His path to Texas was always loaded with expectations. When he committed in the summer of 2022, the 6-foot-2, 199-pound defensive back was a consensus five-star recruit and the No. 3 safety in the country. Texas beat out Alabama, LSU and 13 other offers to land him, making him the first five-star safety to pledge to the program since 2018.
For Blake Gideon, then on Texas’ staff and now back in Austin as safeties coach, that commitment carried real weight. Sarkisian made it clear just how difficult it is to go into Louisiana and win over a prospect LSU wants.
“Naturally, when you go into Louisiana, if it’s a really good player, you’re going to be in for a dog fight with LSU,” Sarkisian said.
He also pointed to the pull LSU has inside the state.
“For the the magnitude of players they have, there’s only one power school for them they go to,” Sarkisian said.
Williams backed up the hype quickly once he got to Austin. As a freshman in 2023, he played in 13 games and finished with 42 tackles, two tackles for loss and two pass breakups. He had seven tackles against BYU and added six against both Houston and Texas Tech, giving Texas a glimpse of the player it had recruited so aggressively.
The next season brought more big moments. Williams picked off his first career pass in the road win at Michigan, then delivered one of his best all-around games against Oklahoma. He forced and recovered a fumble and had four solo tackles before suffering the ACL injury on special teams that ended his year.
During the recovery, Williams leaned on his uncle, Earl Gilliam, who had gone through a knee injury of his own in high school.
When Williams returned in 2025, though, the depth chart had changed around him. Jelani McDonald and Michael Taaffe were locked in as starters, Xavier Filsaime was pushing for more time, and Williams had trouble carving out a steady defensive role. He still contributed on special teams and led Texas with eight tackles against Vanderbilt because of injuries, but that outing did not turn into a permanent starting job.
The staff around him had changed too. Gideon had left for the defensive coordinator job at Georgia Tech, and Duane Akina was back on the Forty Acres.
Sarkisian said Williams was not the same player right away after the injury.
“Comes back last year and was just not quite back to the player that he was prior to the injury, and it takes time. I think he was frustrated with playing time. I think he was frustrated that maybe he wasn’t the player that he was before,” Sarkisian said.
By December, Williams was planning to enter the transfer portal and sat out the Citrus Bowl win over Michigan. Then, in early January, he changed his mind and withdrew from the portal.
That reversal came with help from the staff changes, including the arrival of defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and Gideon’s return.
“I credit bringing Coach Muschamp in, bringing Coach Gideon back and visiting with he and his mom to decide to stay,” Sarkisian said.
Williams has made the most of the second chance. Through nine games this season, he has four starts, 41 tackles, three passes broken up and 2.5 tackles for loss. He had six tackles and a tackle for loss against Mississippi State, then matched that six-tackle total in the 34-20 win at Missouri, sharing the team lead in tackles in Columbia with linebackers Rasheem Biles and Justin Cryer.
There was one rough moment against Ohio State, when he allowed a 43-yard catch as Texas’ early coverage plan against Jeremiah Smith fell apart. But since then, Pro Football Focus says Williams has given up just 90 yards on 11 catches, an average of 8.2 yards per reception.
He has also been strong against the run. Williams ranks second on the team with 19 tackles against ball carriers, has missed just two tackles and owns an average depth of tackle of 5.5 yards.
“What a decision it’s been for him,” Sarkisian said.
For Texas, that decision has turned into a real defensive asset - and a player the Longhorns could have lost before this season ever got rolling.
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