How the Longhorns can maintain their No. 1 passing defense in 2025

Looking ahead to next season, the Longhorns will likely rely on some of their freshmen to contribute early once again.

When it comes to the Texas Longhorns this season, much of the attention has gone towards their quarterback situation with Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning at the helm.

However, their defense has deserved as much, if not even more credit for the Longhorns’ success in 2025, as Texas has allowed just 13.3 points per game, good for second in the country.

Additionally, they’re the best passing defense in the country, allowing just 143.1 passing yards per game during the regular season, while taking the ball away 2.2 times per game, good for seventh in the country.

The Longhorns have elite playmakers on every level of their defense. Freshman pass-rusher Colin Simmons has taken college football by storm with eight sacks in his first season with the Longhorns. Top linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. is one of the best in the country at his position, regardless of age. And the secondary is filled with talented players, led by star cornerback Jahdae Barron and safeties Andrew Mukuba and Michael Taaffe.

While the Longhorns are focused on the College Football Playoff, they’re also looking ahead to the 2025 season, where they’ll have to replace a number of starters on that elite defense.

And that’s where their No. 1 recruiting class in the 2025 cycle comes into play.

The Longhorns had a strong recruiting class across the board in the current cycle, landing difference-makers at a number of key positions, including some major playmakers in the secondary, as well as five-star recruits at defensive line and wide receiver.

During the 2024 season, we saw how top-tier freshmen could come in and crack the rotation. Simmons won the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year award, while five-star wideout Ryan Wingo emerged as a contributor, catching 26 passes for 417 yards and two touchdowns.

Additionally, freshman running back Jerrick Gibson figured into the rotation, rushing for 377 yards and four touchdowns due to injuries at the position, while linebacker Ty’Anthony Smith saw good playing time as well, recording 16 tackles and an interception in 2024.

Looking ahead to next season, the Longhorns will likely rely on some of their freshmen to contribute early once again, and that could very well come in the secondary with players expected to go pro.

So, who could be some of those early contributors in the secondary?

Things start with prize recruit and five-star safety Jonah Williams, who was seen as a top-10 recruit in the class and the No. 1 player at his position in the cycle.

Standing at 6’3”, 205 pounds, Williams is a chess piece who can be versatile in the Longhorns defense, even climbing into the box as a sub linebacker should he continue to build out his frame. But, the star safety could even see reps in the nickel, as well as both safety positions, opening up a number of possibilities to play as a true freshman.

Five-star cornerback Kade Phillips was a nice land, as the Longhorns flipped him late in the cycle from the LSU Tigers, securing a top player at the position in the 2025 class. Overall, he was the highest-rated cornerback that Texas has landed in the Steve Sarkisian era.

Phillips stands 6’0”, 175 pounds, and was one of three cornerbacks that Texas brought in, joining talented four-star Graceson Littleton and three-star Caleb Chester. He could be a candidate to earn some reps in the two-deep at cornerback early, as he has elite athleticism, stemming from his track background.

The other talented safety in the mix is four-star Zelus Hicks, a 6’2”, 190-pound Georgia native who committed to Texas all the way back in September. He’s looking to help continue the tradition of elite defensive backs and develop under the Longhorns staff, which played a major factor in his recruitment.

“It definitely is the coaches and the environment that the coaches bring, which makes the players like all the players,” Hicks said about why he committed to Texas early. “So coming in as a player, I feel like I’ll be developed with the coaching and then gain the mentality that Jahdae [Barron] and [Andrew] Mukuba, all them guys that they have, and Coach Sark, it seems like he’s building really something special here in Texas.”

Like Williams, Hicks expects to play a versatile role at Texas, which seems to be trend for the Longhorns in this class.

“I expect to end up playing free safety, but I want to be real versatile,” Hicks shared at the Under Armour All-American Game this week. “If they need me to roll down to the box to make plays, I’ll do that. I need to be over the top to scare the quarterback from throwing, I’ll do that. So I just want to be a versatile player.”

Hicks expects to be in the mix as a true freshman, trusting his athleticism to make plays after getting a good grasp of the playbook.

“The expectation for me from them is to come in and impact and play early and the main thing is just learning the playbook,” Hicks acknowledged. “Once I learn the playbook, I feel like I’m enough and of athlete to go out there and make plays and get adjusted on the college field.

“Definitely seeing that they got freshmen All-American, that’s the footsteps I want to walk through. So definitely, I want to be a freshman All-American, even compete for the Jim Thorpe Award as a freshman. I know it seems out of grasp to some people, but I’m looking to do things that people aren’t looking.”

With the room that Texas is bringing in with the 2025 recruiting class, Hicks expects the Longhorns to maintain their defensive stronghold and compete to be the No. 1 secondary in the nation next season, potentially with a mix of freshmen in the loop there.

The Longhorns have shown they aren’t afraid of playing freshmen early. Well, that could very well be the case in the secondary next year, and Texas brought in a number of talented defensive backs that could potentially take the reigns from the current core and keep the Longhorns as a perennial power for years to come in the SEC.