Meet the 2025 Texas Longhorns senior class

The 2025 season will be a year of transition in Austin for a multitude of reasons. The catalyst of the Steve Sarkisian era in quarterback Quinn Ewers is gone, marking the start of the Arch Manning era one that many outsiders expect to bring Texas its first national championship in over 20 years.

[BOOKMARK: Check Inside Texas daily for FREE Texas Longhorns content]

But it’s not just Ewers’ departure that makes 2025 an evolutionary year in Austin. We’re entering a new era of college football, five years separated from the 2020 COVID year that screwed up many things, but most notably eligibilities. Texas has that year to thank for David Gbenda’s six years of service, as well as players like Jermayne Lole and Bill Norton making their way to Austin, but the era of wonky eligibility rules and sixth-year seniors should hopefully be in the rearview after 2024.

Now, Texas’ 2025 roster has zero players who predated Sarkisian in Austin, and the four players from the class of 2020 who returned for a fifth year will all be playing on Sundays come September.

While it’s going to hurt to lose 12 starters and another eight important rotational players from the 2024 team, Texas’ biggest hit to their roster will come from something less tangible than star ratings and PFF grades: leadership.

There were question marks about leadership when clubhouse veteran Jordan Whittington went to the NFL in 2024, but those were all but solved by the time the Texas planes landed in Michigan for their week two matchup against the defending national champions.

Of the four aforementioned class of 2020 players, two elevated themselves into large roles alongside Ewers. Jahdae Barron was the energy and confidence that brought Texas’ defense to its best season since the Quinten Jammer-led 2001 team, while Jake Majors was the calm veteran on a fantastic offensive line. Sprinkle in wisdom from Gbenda, Gunnar Helm, Kelvin Banks and Barryn Sorrell and you had a team whose ceiling was being raised by impactful voices in the locker room.

But in 2025, who will become the best leaders of the Texas roster? Outside of returning safety and All-American Michael Taaffe, a lot of is up for grabs. Manning, Anthony Hill Jr., and Malik Muhammad seem like obvious candidates from some of last season’s underclassmen, but no returning seniors jump off the page quite like Barron or Majors did in 2024.

That’s why so much of the success of the 2025 Texas Longhorns stems from the impact of six players: the only seniors on the roster.

Taaffe is already a name that has been mentioned, and his impact will be without question. A fan favorite, an elite player, and a Longhorn for life, he may end up being the best leader in the sport, not just in Austin.

But after Taaffe, there is a mix of names that have very different backgrounds with the team. Three true starters who didn’t declare for the draft returned from the 2024 team in RG DJ Campbell, Nickel CB Jaylon Guilbeau, and former UTSA transfer Trey Moore. Each of these three is expected to not only return to their role but elevate the system that’s already in place.

Moore is tasked with helping lead a talented edge group, and Guilbeau may be asked to add to his own versatility and potentially move to outside cornerback, but Campbell is the true wild card of this group. Campbell has never been someone who has been an outspoken leader on the team like fellow five-star from the 2022 class Banks, but he returns experience that is invaluable to the offense. Campbell will not just be the only lineman with two years of starting experience returning, he’ll be the only player on the entire offense entering his third season as a starter. A lot will be asked of him to help coach up Brandon Baker, who will share the right side with him, and Neto Umeozulu, the candidate at left guard.

But Campbell and Moore aren’t alone in their leadership tasks. Cole Hutson is another player who has flown under the radar in Austin and should help on the offensive line in 2025. Hutson and Campbell traded snaps throughout 2024, but many forget that the former three-star was a starter as a true freshman, earning the job over Campbell. Hutson has struggled with injury in Austin but continues to get better and may be asked to be the captain of the offensive line as the expected starting center, the first time a player not named Majors started at the position under Sarkisian.

A giant on the defensive line also joins Moore, Ethan Burke. Burke is most known for his 4th down stop against Texas A&M and will immediately slot into the Jack role that Sorrell left in the edge rusher group. Burke and Moore, alongside Colin Simmons, should be the best unit in Austin in 2025, and Burke is someone who has played meaningful football for three years now.

Outside of Taaffe, these five players will have big shoes to fill. Not only will they need to reclaim the locker room the way their past teammates did, but they are all being asked to step up individually on the field. Campbell and Hutson have each had their struggles in the passing game, it’s part of the reason why Kyle Flood continually swapped them out during games. Guilbeau and Moore have received their fair share of criticism throughout the season, and their added flexibility will be needed in 2025. And while Burke stands at 6-foot-6, there is still room for him to add muscle and strength that could turn him into a terror in both the pass and run.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY and get 7 days for just ONE DOLLAR!]

On paper, Texas had much more leadership and skill from their 2023 and 2024 senior classes. That’s almost undeniable. But that doesn’t mean this group of six isn’t a talented group of players, especially for guys like Moore and Taaffe who passed on the NFL Draft to return. It just means that there is a lot of pressure to succeed from the jump with this group and have younger players on the offensive line and secondary ready to play week one in Columbus.