Will Muschamp is dancing with the ones who brung him.
The first-year Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator is leaning heavily on his starters in the back seven, keeping senior linebackers Justin Cryer and Rasheem Biles on the field to nearly every snap. Senior safety Jelani McDonald, junior nickel back Graceson Littleton, sophomore cornerback Kade Phillips, and senior cornerback Bo Mascoe aren't far behind.
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Together, those seven players are the only Longhorns to go over 400 snaps defensively through seven games this season. And although the grueling early-season heat has given way to cooler fall temperatures in Central Texas and across the SEC footprint, head coach Steve Sarkisian doesn't want to lean so heavily on his starters.
"I think we're still trying to find the depth at star or the depth at corner, so we can move Bo to star," Sarkisian said Monday. "We just need more bodies that can guard people and cover people."
Better health at safety would help, too — senior Kobe Black, the starter next to McDonald who missed the wins over UTSA and Ole Miss, isn't listed on the injury report this week.
"Naturally, getting Kobe back healthy, 100-percent healthy, is going to be big for us," Sarkisian said Thursday.
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Could other safeties emerge to earn some playing time?
"I think Jonah [Williams] has been making strides. I think Toray Davis has been making strides for us there. All those guys, kind of in that circle," Sarkisian said.
Davis was a preseason surprise for the Longhorns and played some on special teams against the Bobcats and Roadrunners in addition to cameos defensively, but only broke back into the third phase again against the Rebels with five snaps on kick coverage. Seeing him on defense this season remains unlikely.
The lack of playing time on defense for Williams, a consensus five-star prospect in the 2025 class, is more disappointing after he flashed during preseason camp. With almost 90 snaps this season on special teams, he's been a core contributor on kick coverage and kick return with sporadic appearances on other units, but hasn't appeared in a single snap defensively beyond the two non-conference games against overmatched opponents.
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That may have as much to do with backing up McDonald as it does with his own development — the senior from Waco Connally is the team leader on the back end and simply too good to take off the field, so it's no surprise that Sarkisian's Monday comment focused more on cornerback and Star.
McDonald, Mascoe, and Black have played some in the slot this year, as well as both starting linebackers, but Littleton has received the majority of the playing time there. It's not exactly a problem for Texas because Littleton has performed at a high level. The value that Mascoe provides, however, is a bigger body — he's listed as nearly 20 pounds heavier than Littleton.
Moving Mascoe inside requires a higher level of trust in his backup, freshman Smoke Matthews.
"I think Smoke Matthews is a guy that's continuing to grow and he's found a more of a niche on special teams," Sarkisian said. "How's he getting a niche on special teams? We're gaining trust in him to continue to grow into the player that we want to be."
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For the first time since the season opener, Matthews received snaps on both coverage units in Saturday's game, so he's only now earning trust to play on special teams.
Before the season, the anticipated backup to Littleton was junior Xavier Filsaime, who moved from safety during the offseason. But Filsaime also spent much of the offseason rehabilitating from shoulder surgery. And although Sarkisian hasn't addressed continued shoulder problems directly, Filsaime was wearing a harness on it during preseason camp and didn't dress early in the season. In fact, he's still yet to play in 2026.
The player Sarkisian didn't mention is senior cornerback Warren Roberson, who was primarily a core special teams contributor over the last two seasons before falling out of favor with coordinator Jeff Banks this season, perhaps because of persistent penalty problems.
At cornerback, Roberson played a season-low three snaps against Ole Miss after affording speedy wide receiver Deuce Alexander too much cushion and then missing the tackle, allowing a 36-yard gain by Alexander, ultimately the longest gain of the game for the Rebels.
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Roberson also struggled against Ohio State, allowing Jeremiah Smith to get past him on a double move that went for a 43-yard gain and almost gave up the game-sealing touchdown late when Julian Sayin made an uncharacteristically inaccurate throw that went incomplete up the seam targeting a wide-open wide receiver who beat Roberson in coverage.
On 12 targets in coverage, Roberson is credited with allowing eight completions (66.7 percent) for 122 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
Roberson remains the most experienced option who could allow Mascoe to play more in the slot, but his high-profile mistakes have clearly strained the trust level the defensive coaching staff has in him.
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More favorable game situations would also allow the backups more playing time, but Texas has struggled to put opponents away.
"Sometimes the games dictate when we can roll guys in there more. We haven't had that luxury — we've been in so many tight games this year, but we're going to have to find a way and a time to get some of these guys in there," Sarkisian said.
"Some just to get them some of that experience because you just don't want to have to only play the five guys that you have out there the entire game."
