David Gbenda, Michael Taaffe look to lead a Texas Longhorns bounce back
Just six players on the current Texas Longhorns roster took snaps during arguably the most embarrassing loss in recent memory: the 2021 overtime contest versus Kansas where the Jayhawks, seen as the joke of the Big 12 at the time, upset the Horns in Austin.
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Among those six players is sixth-year linebacker David Gbenda, who at the time was a third-stringer that saw minimal snaps each game. Gbenda has slowly worked his way up from rotational ‘backer to a key piece on the Texas defense, sitting at 15th in the SEC in tackles among players at his position.
Gbenda was there before Sarkisian when Tom Herman was roaming the sidelines in 2019 and 2020. Gbenda was there for 5-7 in 2021, for the brutal TCU game in 2022 and for both of the lost bowl games under Sarkisian. He isn’t a stranger to bouncing back from losses, and that’s why he is such a key player in the locker room for Texas after the Horns’ recent loss to Georgia.
“Being in those tough situations, you learn a lot about people, and you learn a lot about your team,” Gbenda said Monday about experiencing losses in the past. “I fully believe that this team is different.”
Gbenda was among the first players to step up as a leader after the loss, having been noted by many teammates as being one of the most outspoken players in the locker room immediately after the game.
“I just felt like it had to be said, (along with) some message of positivity,” Gbenda said. “You know, this wasn’t going to define our season. We left a lot out there. And I just wanted the team to know that we still have everything in front of us. We just need to keep on working day in and day out.”
Gbenda was joined by another familiar face from the 2021 game. Though he wasn’t seeing any snaps in his freshman year, safety Michael Taaffe was in the same locker room with Gbenda and other veterans like Jake Majors and Alfred Collins. They had to endure those trials and tribulations amidst the growing pains of a brand new head coach overseeing an incomplete roster.
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Taaffe has worked his way up from walk-on to starter and emotional leader of the team, and his presence was also massive after the Georgia game. Where Taaffe seems to excel most as a leader is the days after the game, where the entire team has to review what went wrong and learn from their mistakes.
“Nobody likes to lose. But we flipped the script, flipped the narrative, and now we’re onto Vanderbilt,” Taaffe said Monday. “The sun came up. We have everything in front of us.”
Taaffe’s role grows more and more important as the season goes on, especially within in his own position group. With a season-ending injury to Derek Williams and Andrew Mukuba unlikely to play on Saturday against Vanderbilt, Taaffe is the sole upperclassman in a talented but young safety room. Sophomore Jelani McDonald has stepped up in a big way, especially in the Red River win, and freshman Jordon Johnson-Rubell has progressed nicely during his short time in Austin.
Texas is banged up, coming off of its largest loss in nearly three full years, and is heading on the road in a ranked matchup versus a team that gave No. 1 Alabama its first loss this season. All signs point to a potential upset, but veterans like Gbenda, Taaffe and the rest of the players from that 2021 team know what it means to bounce back, and will work to make sure the young players do as well.
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“We just got to guide them and show them how to do anything on and off the field,” Gbenda said about the young players on the roster. “Showing them how you handle this and how you bounce back and adjust yourself.”
