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Jelani McDonald’s versatility will help him shine in 2025

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•03/27/25•

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Jelani McDonald
Jelani McDonald (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

At the Texas Longhorns’ pro timing day, one name was mentioned by several current and former Texas defenders as a player to watch in the 2025 season: Jelani McDonald.

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“I’m really excited to play with him, play by his side, and see how well we can fit together, disguise together, and play different techniques together,” Michael Taaffe said.

Said Jahdae Barron: “Most definitely Jelani. Jelani, he’s everything. He’s what you need. He can play slot. He can play Dime. He can literally play it all. Safety. He’s very versatile as well.”

And last but not least, Andrew Mukuba: “I’d be on the lookout for the new No. 4, Jelani McDonald. I feel like this year, he’s going to show a lot of people what he’s capable of doing. Dude is a freak, man. Next year, I feel like around this time, he’s going to be one of the top guys at that position. I promise you that.”

The reasons why current and former Texas defensive backs alike are excited for McDonald can be seen on plays like the one below, when the Waco (Texas) Connally product picked off Brock Vandagriff during the Kentucky game.

But it’s not just a diving interception that has Texas players and those involved with the program excited. It’s the versatility McDonald possesses and the ability to excel at each one.

Last season, McDonald played 114 snaps in the box, 118 at Star, and 236 at free safety. When playing “heavy” teams like Michigan, the Longhorns would deploy him at Star as a pseudo third linebacker in order to bring a little more size to the box while maintaining the athleticism needed to cover tight ends.

McDonald was used in other ways against more conventional, 11 personnel offenses. The interception above has McDonald playing safety alongside Taaffe on the boundary. During the Longhorns’ first spring practice on Tuesday, he was aligned to the field while Taaffe was working on the boundary.

But he may end up closer to the line of scrimmage. As Barron mentioned, McDonald is likely to be all over the field in a variety of roles. He’s likely to end up playing a lot of Star, which is something that has Inside Texas’ Ian Boyd excited.

From his “What I want to hear about the Texas defense in the spring” article…

“Write this down, Jelani McDonald is going to be a star in 2025!”

The position doesn’t really matter, I just want to hear that McDonald is taking to Duane Akina’s teachings well and is gliding around the field making impact plays at whatever position(s) he lands in. A truly great safety should be able to fit into multiple positions and ideally the rest of the secondary develops enough to allow McDonald to find the spot of maximum impact. That might even change down-to-down, but McDonald needs to emerge in a big way.

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After 33 tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss, one pass defended, and the interception above, plus with a number of quality plays the stat sheet can’t quantify, McDonald’s chances of putting a strong 2025 together seem more and more likely. Just ask a second-team in Taaffe plus future draft picks in Barron and Mukuba.

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