It's now or never for these Longhorns approaching the end of their eligibility - Part II
A number of Texas Longhorns football players on the 2024 roster are entering their senior seasons. Some are multi-year starters back for one more run, some are players who have mostly served as depth over the past three or four years, and some are transfers playing in the burnt orange for the first time.
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With time running out on their careers, what’s next for the group of senior Longhorns before they turn pro or go pro in something other than sports? Inside Texas looks at all the elder statesmen of the roster in Part II of a two-part series.
RELATED: Part I
K Bert Auburn, SR: Firmly entrenched as Texas’ place-kicker, on scholarship, and likely to soar to the top of several all-time school leaderboards, Auburn looks to match his extremely accurate 2023 and make more big kicks for the Longhorns in their attempt to make the 12-team playoff.
LB Morice Blackwell, SR: Blackwell has always been a bit of a tweener. Steve Sarkisian and company tried him at safety but it just wasn’t the right fit. He’s had the instincts and movement skills for linebacker but his size has often been a limitation. Blackwell is in a good spot at Sam and backing up players like David Gbenda at Will. He’s a well-known leader of the team and should make an impact this year in multiple phases.
LB David Gbenda, SR: The only remaining member of Texas’ class of 2019 on campus, Gbenda came back to Austin to help the Longhorns reach greater heights than the Big 12 Championship and simply making the Playoff. Likely to be alongside Anthony Hill Jr. as a starting off-ball linebacker, a quality season in the SEC could boost Gbenda onto draft boards he wasn’t anywhere close to a few years ago.
DT Bill Norton, SR: The big defensive tackle is the type of large human Sarkisian believed his team lacked exiting the spring. His strong suits are taking on double teams and making running the football difficult for opponents. More on what to expect from Norton here.
WR Silas Bolden, SR: Bolden has impressed early in his Texas career during offseason training. Despite his 5-foot-8 size, Bolden has produced like a Power Conference WR1 and could do something similar at Texas. Instead of a gadget change-up, Bolden is working to establish a spot in the starting lineup because of how successful his first summer in Austin has been.
DB Gavin Holmes, SR: Holmes transferred in ahead of the 2023 season and played in all 14 games, but most of snaps were of the rotational variety save for the two games he started. With Ryan Watts and Terrance Brooks both no longer on the team, Holmes has a chance to earn a starting spot. He’ll have to beat Jay’Vion Cole for the job, but this is the least amount of roadblocks to a starting spot Holmes has had since arriving on the 40 Acres.
DB Jahdae Barron, SR: “The job’s not finished,” Barron said at SEC Media Days. “I know the team, we want more. We didn’t complete where we got last year. We did okay, but we didn’t complete it and that’s not what we wanted. We just striving right now. We’re putting our head down, and we’re locked in right now.”
Barron could play a number of positions but likely will be at Star.
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DB Andrew Mukuba, SR: The former freshman All-American comes back home for his senior season after a standout career both at the prep level at Austin (Texas) LBJ and at Clemson. Mukuba was part of the roster churn at the safety position that saw Jerrin Thompson and Kitan Crawford leave with Mukuba sliding in. He’ll see a significant amount of snaps and is a likely starter at one of the two safety positions.
