Andrew Mukuba on leaving Clemson: 'I just felt like I wasn’t really getting better'

Andrew Mukuba considered committing to Texas out of high school, before ultimately going to Clemson and playing three seasons for the Tigers.

He is now in Austin, playing for the Longhorns, after transferring to Texas this offseason. Mukuba recently joined the “Behind the Facemask” podcast and explained his decision to transfer from Clemson to Texas.

“My time there at Clemson, I just felt like I wasn’t really like getting better,” Andrew Mukuba said. “I wasn’t being pushed enough to where I could reach my potential, my peak. I feel like the program wasn’t where it needed to be for me and the whole team to be successful.

“So I felt like, after my junior year, it was always the same thing. So I felt like after that, it was only right for me to transfer, and Texas was one of the schools that I was definitely looking at.”

Mukuba was a Freshman All-American and the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year during his freshman season with the Tigers after recording 54 tackles, nine pass breakups and a fumble recovery.

However, after making the College Football Playoff the previous six years before he arrived, Clemson went only 9-3 during the regular season and played in the Cheez-It Bowl.

Clemson also missed out on the playoff each of the past two years, and Mukuba’s production dipped too, due in part to injuries.

“I would say my freshman year, obviously I was the man – a freshman All-American, ACC Rookie of the Year, third-team All-ACC as a freshman, all these accolades,” Andrew Mukuba said. “I was getting honors and accolades I had never heard of. It was like shocking to me, but my sophomore year, I feel like my sophomore year was kind of rough. I was just going through a lot of things my sophomore year and didn’t play my best football. I feel like that impacted me a lot. But then I doubled back my junior year, I had a good year.”

Mukuba made 45 tackles and had seven pass breakups in 2023, while starting all 10 games he played in. He is now with the Texas program and hoping to end his college career on a high note after also considering Oregon.

“It was Texas and Oregon that I was really looking at. And then obviously I ended up committing to Texas and everything just played into my favor,” Mukuba said. “Because I’m looking to have a big year and there ain’t no better way to do it than playing in a big league like the SEC. And Texas is where it’s supposed to be at now, and obviously I’m back home, close to the family. So everything just kind of played into my favor with the whole process.”