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Steve Sarkisian excited for the Longhorns' 'versatile' linebacker room

by:Evan Vieth•05/27/25
Liona Lefau
Liona Lefau (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

With SEC Spring Meetings officially underway in Destin, Fla., Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has been able to talk openly about where his team stands heading into their second-ever SEC season.

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It’s his first offseason returning a team of players that have played through a grueling SEC schedule, not just a handful of transfers like Isaiah Bond or Amari Niblack, who had prior experience in the conference. Because of this, Sarkisian’s squad is more prepared than ever for the day-to-day grind of college football’s premier conference.

Despite this, Sarkisian still had his reservations about a few groups on his team. But when asked about which position saw the most improvement throughout the spring practice window, Sarkisian had this to say:

“The one position that I’m excited about, that I probably didn’t give enough credit to, is the linebacker position,” Sarkisian said. “It’s a really versatile room. Anthony (Hill) is a great player, Liona (Lefau) had a fantastic spring. But now you put Brad Spence in there, you put Trey Moore in that room, Ty’Anthony Smith is in year two, Elijah Barnes and what he looked like as a true freshman—there’s a lot of versatility in that room.”

The biggest highlight of this quote is his inclusion of Moore. The former UTSA transfer had spent his entire career, both at UTSA and in Austin, working off the edge as a Buck in Pete Kwiatkowski’s multiple 2-4-5 scheme. With the emergence of Colin Simmons and the depth of the edge room, Moore had been talked about early on at IT as a candidate to move to linebacker for the 2025 season.

It had been known that he played linebacker over the spring, but there were still sprinklings of thought that he would return to the edge room. This group being so versatile, as Sark mentioned, gave him the opportunity to play at either. It now sounds like he will officially be a part of that LB group, working in tandem with Lefau at the Will position and serving as a priority third-down pass-rushing option.

Sarkisian mentioned later on that he was a little concerned heading into the spring about the total number of linebackers on the roster. With freshman Jonathan Cunningham receiving reps at Star, Sarkisian was left with 5.5 linebackers on the roster, depending on where you saw Moore playing. Last season, that number was closer to 6.5 or 7—again, depending on what position you believed Tausili Akana played.

That was part of the reason Texas moved Moore over, and it seems like the progression of this group has far exceeded the expectations of the entire staff. IT has reported on Spence’s surprising jump in ability as a coverage defender, as well as singing the praises of Lefau and Moore in their own right.

Suddenly, Texas may have the makeup of the best linebacker corps in the country. Hill is likely the best linebacker in the country heading into 2025, and Texas’ room returns a starter in Lefau, a starter at a different position in Moore, and a player who started for another SEC team in Spence. That’s over 2,400 returning snaps from 2024 alone.

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Sarkisian’s confidence in this room is a great development for Texas’ defense in the upcoming season. The Longhorns return 3–4 starters in the secondary, one of the nation’s best edge rush tandems, and a linebacker group that has won the praise of its head coach. The Longhorn defense has a chance to be one of the best in the nation for the second year in a row.

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