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What unit projects as the best in college football in 2025? The Texas defense
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When Texas earns its highest preseason AP Top 25 ranking since 2009, plenty of people will roll their eyes. They’ll assume that it’s all because Arch Manning is finally set to become the Longhorns’ starter, and they’ll reference how his last name is the lone reason that Texas is getting this type of preseason hype.
Nope. Manning might be a significant reason why Steve Sarkisian’s squad has legitimate preseason national title hopes (again), but the bigger reason is more obvious. At least it should be.
That Texas defense should be as good as any unit in the sport.
That’s not as bold as some might think. While the masses were worried about why Quinn Ewers’ ceiling appeared limited, the rest of us watched DC Pete Kwaitkowski lead a unit that finished in the top 3 in FBS in scoring defense, yards/play allowed and opponent red-zone scoring percentage. That group allowed 9 passing touchdowns in 16 games, yet it also finished tied the FBS lead with 22 interceptions. Of the 542 runs that Texas was tasked with stopping, only 7 of them went for 20 yards.
That unit was phenomenal by virtually every metric. And dare I say, it should be even better in 2025.
Why? Well, let’s start with the fact that Texas’ defense should return a preseason All-American at each level.
Michael Taaffe’s return announcement was among the most important in the sport after the former walk-on safety turned himself into a second-team All-American in 2024. He’ll be tasked with leading a secondary that has some notable NFL departures (more on them in a bit). Anthony Hill Jr. is back because he didn’t have an NFL Draft decision to make after he led the SEC with 16.5 tackles for loss … as a 19-year-old sophomore. No big deal. Hill also tied for the SEC lead with 4 forced fumbles, though if there’s a returning player on the Texas defense with the “game-wrecker” moniker, it’s Colin Simmons. All Simmons did in 2024 was earn Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year honors after he had 14 tackles for loss and a team-high 9 sacks.
That’s not a bad defensive core to start with. Look around and you’ll see it’s not just those 3 guys. It’s outside corner Malik Muhammad returning after a Year 2 in which he only allowed 1 touchdown in coverage and he allowed a 50% completion rate on 60 targets. It’s former UTSA transfer/record-holder Trey Moore running it back after he finished the season on a tear. It’s A&M game hero/3-year veteran Ethan Burke back on the defensive line. It’s Liona Lefau returning after he took significant steps in his first season as a starter. It’s UNC defensive tackle transfer Travis Shaw, who flashed major potential as a run-stuffer at 330 pounds.
But perhaps above all else, it’s Kwiatkowski. It’s the guy who continues to lead elite units that have a chance with anyone they line up against. That included Ohio State, who was forced to beat Texas without the benefit of Jeremiah Smith because he was bracketed all night.
Will Texas be able to execute a similar strategy when the teams meet in Columbus to kick off the 2025 season? That remains to be seen. No matter who ends up being favored going into that matchup — DraftKings currently has Ohio State as a 3-point favorite in a matchup with the 2 national title favorites — the Texas defense is still the most proven unit in the game. Granted, that’s a game in which both teams have new starting quarterbacks who’ll take over offenses that lost a ton of production.
Still, though. The point stands.
The only time that Texas allowed 25 points in regulation to an opposing offense was the first Georgia game, and the Dawgs had 1 touchdown drive of 40 yards (that’s taking away Ohio State’s defensive touchdown in the Cotton Bowl). Clemson and ASU were the lone teams to hit 375 yards of total offense against Texas. Just for a little perspective, 79 FBS teams averaged at least 375 yards of offense in 2024.
It’s easy to forget that came on the heels of Texas losing defensive line standouts T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II to the first 2 rounds of the NFL Draft. That was considered the heart and soul of the Longhorns’ 2023 defense. Sure, the Texas run defense took a slight year-to-year hit in 2024, but being 0.34 yards/rush worse didn’t hold that unit back.
In the likely event that Texas’ pass defense isn’t quite as dominant after losing future early-round picks Jahdae Barron and Andrew Mukuba, there’s reason to believe that it can still be plenty effective thanks to the Longhorns’ experience rushing the quarterback. Texas’ secondary might have star power to replace, but it’ll still be led by 3 guys who have played in a combined 105 games at Texas (that’s including 32 games played by slot corner Jaylon Guilbeau).
Not too shabby.
By the way, you’ll notice that I’m not making any mention of the expected favorable schedule. That’s because if Texas is going to reach the places it aspires to reach in 2025 (a national title), it won’t be defined by the scheduling breaks it catches in the regular season. All that’ll matter is whether it can beat elite competition come Playoff time. Heading into 2025, those questions lie more on the offensive side of the ball.
Texas is the only team in the sport that will enter 2025 riding consecutive semifinal berths. There are guys like Hill and Taaffe who return having played in 4 Playoff games. That’s not including the consecutive conference title berths, nor is it including the amount of high-profile regular-season games that Texas has been a part of since it joined the national conversation in 2023. Well, that’s at least when it joined the national conversation in a non-mocking way. Nobody is poking fun at Texas anymore.
If anyone is poking fun at the Longhorns’ inevitable top-2 preseason ranking, they’re too fixated on yet another Manning instead of yet another elite Texas defense.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
