Be Undeniable: David Gbenda's journey to the NFL through four plays as a Texas Longhorn
Texas linebacker David Gbenda approaches the line of scrimmage, ready to jump the center’s snap. His heart is pounding, he’s ready.
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He’s come to Tuscaloosa, Ala. ready to make a name for himself.
Alabama is approaching midfield at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It’s the second quarter and Nick Saban’s team is down 13-3 to his former assistant Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns. But the Tide have won 21 straight games at home and 43 straight non-conference regular season games. To be tested isn’t new for Alabama, their own program is as challenging as many of the great opponents they face in the SEC. The Texas Longhorns are on the doorstep of the Southeastern Conference, but are still in the Big 12 Conference. For two years, Texas players and coaches have had it shoved in their faces that they’re not “SEC ready.” And on this September night in 2023, the Longhorns are still an internet meme, the subject of constant discussions on whether or not college football’s sleeping giants are finally “back.”
The Katy native is in his fifth year playing linebacker for the Longhorns. Playing time has been hard to come by up to this point, but he’s finally earned a starting spot next to All-American Jaylan Ford. After a paltry 2021 and an average 2022 season, the Longhorns defense looks transformed. Now, NFL players are everywhere. Over the previous summer, Sarkisian remarked Texas was beginning to look like “my team.”
Gbenda is a holdover from the previous regime and has carved out every snap of playing time. Young linebackers in Anthony Hill and Liona Lefau are proving tough to keep off the field. Gbenda as a veteran isn’t only expected to lead, he has to perform. The Texas roster is at the point where if you don’t step up, someone else will.
Before this third down, Gbenda is shaded behind former Texas and current Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. Gbenda is trying not to give anything away to his opponent, but his favorite blitz has just been called by Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. If he can’t trick Alabama’s quarterback and fellow Katy native Jalen Milroe, he’s just going to approach the line and go. Gbenda likes blitzing, it’s football at its simplest and purest: “me versus you.”
The ball is snapped and Gbenda fires through the gap between Alabama’s guard and tackle with Milroe in sight. But immediately the linebacker is down, his elbows on the grass.
Alabama running back Jase McClellan met the blitzing Gbenda’s lower body and cut him to the ground. It was a perfect blitz pick-up by McClellan. But textbook execution doesn’t always account for the opponent’s sheer will and the ability to get back up.
Milroe is one of the best throwers of the deep ball in the country and he scans the field with a clean pocket, but out of the corner of his eye, Milroe looks back to his right where McClellan and a laid-out Gbenda should be, but there’s an all-white jersey closing in on him fast. Milroe rolls to the left in an attempt to evade the pressure which is bearing down, but he’s swallowed, wrapped up and taken down. It’s Gbenda who has sacked him and killed a Crimson Tide drive.
“I look up, I saw he was still within striking distance and I said alright, bet, it’s going to be me or him. So I get up and I just go,” Gbenda told Inside Texas in an interview for this story.
Up until that night, Gbenda’s time at Texas had been defined by “almosts” for both him and his teammates. He was a part of teams who were almost there under Tom Herman and Sarkisian, or defenses which almost made a play. But on this night, Gbenda and his teammates decided they were through with “almosts.” They would leave nothing else to chance. There would be no more discussion about whether or not the Longhorns were “back,” they were simply here. And like Milroe trying to evade Gbenda, there was nothing anyone could do to escape what was coming.
The Longhorns would upset Saban’s Tide 34-24, becoming the last team to beat the legendary coach in the regular season. The win set a new standard at Texas and showed the Longhorns were actually capable of what their fans long hoped they could do and what detractors believed wasn’t possible. Additionally, Gbenda’s play was highlighted by Sarkisian as being a standard bearer for the Texas defense.
“What a tremendous effort play from David,” Sarkisian said after the game. “The fact we are playing with that fanatical effort defensively is a prerequisite if you want to play defense for us at The University of Texas.”
It’s the play from Gbenda’s career Texas fans bring up to him the most often. It’s when Longhorn fans say they believed Texas would really beat Alabama. To have a play like the Milroe sack, an indelible moment which Longhorn fans will remember for decades, reminds David of why he came to Texas in the first place.
“It’s what I came to Texas to do, to bring back the glory of the Vince Young days. I’m thankful God put me in the position to make plays like that, against the Alabamas of the world,” Gbenda said.
Now after six years in Austin, a conference title in the Big 12 and two College Football Playoff semi-final appearances, Gbenda is preparing for the next phase of his life and his football career. Immediately after Texas’ season ended at the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State, Gbenda packed up for Frisco to begin combine and pro day preparation in Frisco at Exos Training Center alongside other NFL hopefuls like former Texas wide receiver Isaiah Bond. Among draft analyst circles, Gbenda is viewed as a player who’s on the cusp of being drafted or winding up with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent.
Gbenda’s agent, Christian Addison of ASE Representation, said David was invited to the NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis by seven teams, just under the cusp of the 11 or 12 invitations it usually takes to participate. Still, Addison met with all 32 NFL teams on Gbenda’s behalf at the NFL Combine.
Gbenda put up a strong display of speed and strength measurables at the Longhorns Pro Day in late March, in front of higher ups from every NFL team including Texans coach Demeco Ryans and Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, former linebackers in their own right.
He’ll also showcase his abilities at the Houston Texans prospect day on April 11th.
Not receiving a combine invitation hasn’t stopped Gbenda from preparing or believing the best football of his career is ahead of him. It’s not in Gbenda, nor his family’s nature to get discouraged. They’ve conquered bigger obstacles than this one.
Just a short time ago, the Gbenda family’s story was a long way away from the spotlight of college football in primetime or the NFL draft. Sierra Leone on the northwest coast of Africa was in the middle of a brutal 11-year civil war and was ruled by a corrupt government. Looking to escape the unrest and find a better life, David’s parents, Tamba and June, emigrated to the United States in 1996.
An athletic background was in the Gbenda DNA, as Tamba was a prolific volleyball and soccer player in his home country. Still, athletic dreams were the last things on their minds at the time. They worked multiple jobs while planting roots in Houston. The Gbendas slept in an apartment with no furniture. But they never felt sorry for themselves. They looked at everything in America as an opportunity. They both earned their bachelors and masters, Tamba in organic chemistry, June in nursing. All while starting a family. David arrived first and then his younger sisters Matilda and Madison. Later, the family of five moved to the Houston suburb of Katy.
Watching his parents showed a young David anything was possible and instilled in him an insatiable work ethic. June consistently preached to David “this world is full of opportunity.” David said he still hears those words in his mother’s voice.
Being unfamiliar with football, Tamba originally encouraged young David to try every sport besides the one his son would eventually star in.
“My dad wanted me to do everything,” Gbenda said. “I did soccer, tennis, basketball, everything but football. And I was always bouncing around, doing stuff physically. I was always having fun, playing around. So I didn’t get introduced to football until seventh grade. But when we were choosing classes in middle school, I just signed up.”
In a move which would eventually mirror a brief time early on at Texas where roster holes necessitated David move to running back, he originally played offensive and defensive line. Then he played running back before finally settling at linebacker early on in high school.
David’s recruitment didn’t originally take off at Cinco Ranch High School, but once it did the Gbenda’s started to see both the athletic and educational opportunities football could provide for their son. Tamba and June started to learn the game for themselves and in turn became fans. He chose Texas for more than football, for the education and the life after football the network of UT could provide. Though David was a four-star prospect and a top 25 player in Texas for the 2019 class, the scouting reports on recruiting sites always mentioned his size. One scouting report from his recruiting profile reads: At 6-foot-0, 218 pounds, “size could haunt him at the next level. Can get washed out by larger blockers. Must add strength to compensate for lack of ideal size.”
“Whenever I was getting recruited and stuff, I didn’t really pay attention to all the blogs. I just wanted to make sure I was always the strongest and fastest on my team, regardless of what team I was on or what city I was in,” Gbenda said. “That looked like squats after practice, first in high school then in college. The knocks on me weren’t going to be about my speed, or my strength, or my football IQ. I went into every practice, every workout, every film study and I asked myself: did I win today? I wanted to make sure no stone was left unturned in my game. I wanted to be undeniable.”
David appeared in four games while still redshirting during his true freshman season in 2019. And his first season in Austin was a tough one, as it saw the Longhorns under Herman fall mightily short of their preseason expectations. As a result, defensive coordinator Todd Orlando was fired and ex-Rutgers head coach Chris Ash was brought in. Then, the world stopped in March of 2020. Strength and conditioning was taken to at-home workouts and Gbenda learned a new defense over Zoom before finally returning to Austin in the summer. The Covid shortened 2020 season almost didn’t happen at all, but it wasn’t even the most turmoil the Longhorns would experience. Herman’s seat grew hotter after early losses to TCU and Oklahoma. But, the controversy around the program grew as “The Eyes of Texas” issue took the microscope always on the team off the field.
Finally, respite came for David and his teammates. The Longhorns were 6-3, but let everything lose against the Kansas State Wildcats in the last game of the regular season. It was a scorching afternoon for December in Manhattan, Kan. and Texas was up 59-31 late. Will Howard dropped back to pass and David let his instincts take over. He sunk back and Howard kept staring. The ball traveled his direction and David reached his hands around it to secure his first career interception.
It was a pinch yourself moment for the Gbendas, who not long before were trying to find their way in America. David ripped his helmet off and ran to the Longhorns sideline and stood atop the Texas bench to celebrate with the sun beating down on him. The play and huge road win were momentary reliefs for him and his teammates, but the tumult wasn’t over.
Gbenda and many of his Longhorn teammates learned of Herman’s firing through social media. The initial shock morphed into excitement as David and his teammates dreamed of the explosive offense Sarkisian would bring and the attacking defense Kwiatkowski would install. But the 2021 season saw Texas go 5-7 and the 2022 season saw incremental improvement to an 8-5 record. Three defensive coordinators, two head coaches, COVID-19 and racial strife, the emergence of NIL and the transfer portal, and the SEC announcement was quite an experience. It was obvious nothing would be easy for the Longhorns. Chaos was all around them and they could only control their own individual habits and serve to encourage their teammates. Success and transformation wouldn’t come overnight. David struggled to find the field consistently, but he mirrored his own process after the approach to the Longhorns program.
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“I took intent to everything I did. In my schoolwork, football and nutrition,” Gbenda said. “I asked, what am I eating? How can I improve my eating? Did I stretch for an hour? We’re doing a lot on our team, but we’re still losing, so what more can be done? I just took a holistic approach to trying to improve and encouraged my teammates to do the same.”
The transformation of Texas under Sarkisian seems quick if viewed in a vacuum. But it ignores all the minutia David, his teammates, and coaches poured into everything they did. Still, Texas built itself back up brick by brick from a punchline into a behemoth. The win at Alabama, the Big 12 Championship and the playoff appearance in the Sugar Bowl against Washington were evidence.
Still, Gbenda returned for the 2024 season to win more championships with his teammates and put more film on tape for NFL teams. He’d created more than a rapport with the young linebackers, it was a brotherhood. Gbenda wanted to take the field with Hill, Lefau, and Morice Blackwell again. He and other linebackers traveled to Hawaii to visit Lefau’s home for a camp in the offseason.
Longhorn legend and former All Pro linebacker Derrick Johnson serves as a volunteer linebackers coach for Texas and constantly has heaped praised on Gbenda for “working and leading at the same time.” His leadership was on display when he took credit for a coverage breakdown at the end of Texas’ 2023 loss to archrival, Oklahoma. He vowed he and the Longhorns would make amends in 2024.
His teammates lovingly nicknamed Gbenda “Big Swoll.” Strength coach Torre Becton called him the strongest player on the team alongside center Jake Majors. Proving even six years after arriving in Austin, Gbenda won’t be outworked.
Though Gbenda’s playing time was more limited at the beginning of the 2024 season, he still flashed when he got onto the field. He put huge highlights on tape early in the season against Colorado State and Michigan, but was still left waiting for the most part. Like his parents instilled into him, his optimism never wavered. His belief and commitment to his process continued.
As the weeks passed in the 2024 campaign, Gbenda saw an uptick in playing time. After an October loss to Georgia, Gbenda spoke to the team and told the Longhorns they wouldn’t let the loss define their season. As quarterback Quinn Ewers’ health became more of a factor, the Longhorns relied more on their defense. Kwiatkowski’s unit cemented itself as one of the best defenses in school history. And the defense’s remarkable season became defined by multiple goal line stands against Texas A&M and Clemson, all of which he was on the field for.
Gbenda thrives in those moments. When the pressure is the highest, Gbenda’s mind is the most quiet. He takes himself back to watching tape and asks himself “when do I make plays?” The answer is when he’s at peace.
“I just try to take a breath and try to quiet my mind down,” Gbenda said. “I just have a little word and I say that word to myself to quiet my mind down. I do my pre-snap communication, but I don’t say anything else and just trust myself and my preparation. Because again, whenever you’re prepared, your preparation will just set you free.”
At the Peach Bowl in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, the Longhorn defense is once again backed up against their own endzone, attempting to hold off an opponent. Arizona State is a team full of playmakers like Cam Skattebo and Sam Leavitt. The team resembles their confident young coach Kenny Dillingham. They will not quit, they will not go away. It’s the beginning of the second half and Texas is holding onto a 17-3 lead with the Sun Devils knocking on the door of the goal line from the two. Things seem like they’re spiraling for the Longhorns in Atlanta.
“Hill and I looked at each other, decided what we were both gonna do,” Gbenda said. “So I took my breath and I said to myself ‘do your job.’ I know in these big games it’s not the big plays which make the difference, but realistically it’s the bunch of little plays that add up. I said do your job again and I made a play.”
It was plays like the emphatic third down stop against quarterback Leavitt which added up and allowed Texas to hang on. Though the end of the game was defined by legendary moments, like Ewers to Matthew Golden and Gunnar Helm, or Andrew Mukuba’s interception, the plays like Gbenda’s hulking solo tackle of Leavitt showed Texas refused to break. Gbenda’s trademark closing speed highlighted in the Milroe sack and open field solo tackles are his calling card. They’re the type of plays that attracted Addison to Gbenda and why he wanted to represent him in the NFL.
“I have a knack for representing linebackers because I know what the NFL looks for in that position and I knew David checked those boxes after watching him and talking with scouts I trust,” Addison said. “He’s got amazing closing speed and he’s great with solo open field tackles. He excels on 3rd and short. He squares up and he’s all in.”
More than half of Gbenda’s tackles in 2024 were solo. What’s more, he became impossible to keep off the field as Texas’ season progressed. During the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State in the playoff semifinal, Gbenda found himself in a moment which resembled the beginning of his time in burnt orange.
Once again, Howard (now the Buckeyes quarterback) dropped back and sent the ball into the middle of the field. Texas was down and needed a spark, badly.
“For some reason, the third quarter was a low point for us all season, I remember it being that way against Ohio State,” Gbenda said. “I just said, ‘no way am I gonna let us roll over.’ I said ‘ain’t no way,’ it was the same situation. I was dropping back, but there was a single receiver to my right and we had coverage over there, so I hooked left. But then I saw he was going to throw it so I went back and grabbed it. It was a rush of energy and it cemented that we weren’t going to go down quietly.”
Gbenda’s teammates mobbed him on the sidelines as joy for the moment and for one of their leaders surged through them all. Texas didn’t get the breaks and the bounces in Arlington they ended up needing to go to the national championship, but it wasn’t for lack of fanatical effort by the Longhorns or Gbenda. The same thing Sarkisian once said was a prerequisite for playing at Texas. Gbenda left Texas better than he found it.
Since Pro Day ended, Gbenda has been able to go back to focusing solely on football, rather than 40 times and drills. He’s being trained by Johnson in Austin. The two are focusing on Gbenda shedding blocks and moving through the field guided by the linebacker vision which kept Johnson in the NFL for 14 seasons. Gbenda still hasn’t given up in his mission to become undeniable, now by NFL teams.
“One thing I love about David is that he’s hungry,” Johnson said. “He doesn’t just want something to eat. He’s hungry.”
It’s the trait which keeps players in the NFL more than anything else, Johnson says.
The Gbenda family never quit, not when the odds were stacked against them upon their arrival in America. Then David himself never wavered in Austin, despite offers to transfer and seek out another opportunity. He saw it all during his time in Austin and yet he stayed the course. So now, not the lack of a combine invite, or whether he’s drafted or undrafted, none of it will divert him off of his path.
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Because just when someone believes David Gbenda to be down, here he comes.
He’s closing in.
