Texas finally got the kind of special teams snap Jeff Banks has been waiting for.
In the second quarter of Saturday’s 34-20 win over Missouri, sophomore nickel back Jonathan Cunningham came through with a blocked punt - a rare bright spot in a season that has otherwise been loaded with costly mistakes and plenty of scrutiny around Texas’ longtime special teams coordinator.
The play started with a punt block call that put Missouri in a tough spot. Texas freshmen Jermaine Bishop and Kohen Brown overloaded the right side of the protection, forcing the Tigers to account for the threat of Ryan Niblett on the return side. Because Missouri had to kick toward the sideline to limit Niblett, the punter was left with little margin for error if the protection didn’t adjust at the line.
Brown, who has earned Banks’ trust and ranks third on the team in special teams snaps, did his part as the interior rusher. He took a controlled path to avoid a roughing penalty, but still forced Missouri punter Brunno Reus to come too close to the line of scrimmage. That opened the door for Cunningham to finish the job.
Cunningham’s path to that moment has been a quiet one. He signed with Texas in the 2025 class as a tweener prospect and was listed as a linebacker in the recruiting process, though he needed major weight gain to fit that spot. He came in as a consensus three-star recruit and landed just inside the top 500 nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Now a second-year player, Cunningham is listed at 198 pounds, only a little heavier than he was in high school. He’s buried on the nickel depth chart and has played just 23 defensive snaps this season, mostly in blowouts. But Texas has room to carry dependable special teams pieces now, and Cunningham showed exactly why on a play that marked the Longhorns’ first blocked punt since the Red River Rivalry in 2023.
He beat the deep snapper, then took advantage of a bad angle from the right side of the shield, where linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr. was stationed. Woodyard, a fifth-year player with nearly 200 career special teams snaps, mostly on punt coverage over the last two seasons, made the same kind of mistake that got Texas senior linebacker Justin Cryer pulled from that role after Oklahoma’s blocked punt touchdown last month. Woodyard only got a glancing touch on Cunningham’s outside shoulder, and the punt was blocked.
Texas took over at the 39-yard line, but the offense couldn’t fully cash in. A designed run by Arch Manning and an ineffective scramble left the Longhorns facing 3rd and 11, and Steve Sarkisian made the unusually conservative choice to kick a field goal on 4th and 1 from the 19-yard line after Michael Masunas caught a 10-yard pass to tie the game at 10-10.
Even with the uneven season around him, Banks can point to one thing that still gives Texas an edge: the threat of Niblett. The Longhorns’ special teams rank 24th nationally in ESPN’s SP+ rankings, a number likely helped by Gianni Spetic’s strong kicking. But when Texas shows pressure, Niblett’s presence forces opposing punt units into uncomfortable decisions, and Saturday’s block was proof of how dangerous that can be.
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