Special teams isn’t sexy, but it wins football games. In fact, it lost Texas a football game in 2024 and probably should’ve cost them in the Peach Bowl. Texas’ unit was one of the five worst in the nation.
Special teams isn’t sexy, but it wins football games.
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In fact, it lost Texas a football game in 2024 and probably should’ve cost them in the Peach Bowl. Texas’ unit was one of the five worst in the nation.
Bottom 20 in FG%, bottom 35 in punt yard averages, and just 18.4 kickoff return yards per game. That doesn’t even mention poor blocking, penalties, and a lack of communication on trick plays. All of those were on full display in the aforementioned Georgia and Arizona State games from 2024.
Texas has to upgrade at special teams in 2025, and it should. Jeff Banks has the track record as one of the best ST coaches in the nation, and their weakest points were filled with transfers—a shiny new punter from Utah in Jack Bouwmeester and a new kicker from down the road in San Marcos, Mason Shipley.
Those two, Lance St. Louis at long snapper, and the trio of DeAndre Moore Jr., Quintrevion Wisner, and Ryan Niblett in the return game make up the core of the unit. These are the guys you will see the most and the ones who make the most obvious mistakes to the naked eye if something were to go wrong.
But we’re looking past that to the players we expect to solidify the struggling return and coverage games from last year. Here’s a list of every player who played over 150 special teams snaps in 2024.
There are a good number of returners here. While Liona Lefau and Michael Taaffe are likely starters, their skill sets and football IQ make them strong candidates to return to all four phases of special teams (kick return, kick coverage, punt return, punt coverage). Expect Wisner to play a similar role now that the RB room is much healthier. He was arguably the MVP of the special teams as a true freshman in 2023, making a return to at least two of those phases likely.
Then there’s Warren Roberson. He’s a curious case. As you can see, PFF agrees with the IT team that he was bad on special teams last year. Missed blocks, penalties—you name it. Here’s the thing: Banks absolutely adores him. We’re hoping that last year was a small blip on an otherwise fantastic future career for the cornerback on special teams. He’ll be a gunner once again.
That then leaves Ryan Niblett, Ty’Anthony Smith, and Kobe Black. Again, these three will all return, but Black will likely take the biggest step back. He’s at worst the CB3 and may solidify himself opposite Malik Muhammad as early as the Florida game. Niblett is a perfect fit for special teams. He’s extremely fast, a smart player, unselfish, and knows how to tackle. He’ll also return some kicks for Texas. Smith has been getting a lot of buzz as an LB, but that also translates to special teams. You’ll see him laying out some returners in the kick game.
That leaves the three spots left by Morice Blackwell, Gunnar Helm, Gavin Holmes, as well as David Gbenda, Jahdae Barron, and Juan Davis, all of whom had roles on specific units. We probably won’t see Jelani McDonald much this year, either. So what does Banks look for in a new player coming onto his units?
“Speed. If you can flat-out run, you’re going to play special teams. Number two, trust. So are you the guy that’s going to push away when the returner passes you, or are you going to keep grabbing the guy and holding him and creating that penalty, right? And then physicality—can you go down and cover and tackle?” Banks said. “We’re trying to continue to develop those skills in camp. You gotta be able to run, you gotta be able to tackle, and we gotta be able to trust you.”
There are a few players we can speculate on for that, but we don’t need to. He’s already told us some of the players that he knows will play on special teams.
Graceson Littleton, Nick Townsend, Emaree Winston, and Lance Jackson are all freshmen who will play key roles on special teams, likely taking over spots left by Blackwell, Helm, Holmes, and Davis. They all fit the mold he wants: fast, physical, and smart. Townsend and Jackson are elite athletes, and Littleton and Winston are both above-average ones who have already shown flashes of great football IQ in camp.
We’ll speculate further, though. He’s going to use Jonah Williams, who, at the time we talked to Banks, had barely been with the team. He fits every type of mold Banks wants. He also mentioned Bo Barnes and Jonathan Cunningham in passing, both of whom will need to operate on special teams as part of the freshman LB class. Barnes should be an exciting example of height and speed, while Cunningham should be calling up Blackwell for advice—they’re similar players.
A few other names deserve a shout-out. Freshman athlete Michael Terry III should find some playing time here, maybe as a gunner. At 6’3″ with elite speed, he’s built for that position. From the 2024 class, Jordon Johnson-Rubell has the makings of a great special teams player, as does 2023 TE Spencer Shannon at 6’7″. He should be a strong blocker and maybe play on the kick return unit.
Texas was bad in this field in 2024, but there’s reason to be optimistic going forward. The transfers will always be a question mark, but Banks’ track record as a recruiter and the sheer number of athletes at his disposal make for multiple high-potential units. It’s all about converting talent into verifiable production.
Category: General Sports
