Texas spent the offseason building what looks like a championship-caliber roster, and Steve Sarkisian has every reason to expect more after back-to-back trips to the national semifinal. The Longhorns kept key NFL-level talent such as Arch Manning and Trevor Goosby, then added the No. 3 transfer portal class in the country. After a 9-3 regular season knocked them off that semifinal run in 2025, the pressure in 2026 is obvious: this is the strongest team Sarkisian has had, and the excuses are gone.
But even with all that talent, one area could still decide whether Texas gets where it wants to go.
The concern sits in the back end of the defense, where new coordinator Will Muschamp inherits a unit loaded with playmakers at every level. Colin Simmons, Rasheem Biles and Graceson Littleton give Texas star power, and Muschamp should have plenty to work with. The issue is safety, where the Longhorns have quality pieces but also the kind of uncertainty that can wreck a season if it shows up at the wrong time.
Jelani McDonald gives Texas a steady presence at strong safety after providing tone-setting play in the box last season. The problem is the spot next to him.
Xavier Filsaime is currently projected to start at free safety, and while he handled pass coverage reasonably well and fit the run game, his tackling was a major issue. He missed a third of his tackles and posted a PFF tackling grade of 40.8.
Derek Williams Jr., the only other Longhorn to log at least 75 snaps in 2025, offers better tackling, but the overall package is still pretty plain.
That matters because Texas also lost Michael Taaffe, the longtime deep safety and leader, to the NFL Draft this offseason. Filsaime, Williams, or any combination of the two does not fully replace what Taaffe brought.
There is, however, one more name in the mix: Jonah Williams. He is listed as the third-choice safety, but he may be the most gifted player in the room. A former No. 6 overall high school recruit, Williams barely played in 2025 and also dealt with an injury this offseason, so Muschamp is working with a major unknown.
Still, the talent is real. If Muschamp can unlock the best version of Jonah Williams, Texas’ safety group could flip from a question mark to a strength in 2026.
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Safety and left guard stand out most, with Derek Williams Jr. and Laurence Seymore among the players trying to turn opportunity into a starting role. There are other names worth tracking too, from Justus Terry on the defensive front to freshman Jermaine Bishop Jr. on offense and in the return game, while Lance Jackson and Brad Spence are pushing to make the edge-rusher rotation harder to sort out than it looked a few months ago. [Read more 🡒]