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Texas' 2025 Opponents: Ranking The Top 5 Linebacker Units That The Longhorns Will Face

by: Paul Wadlington08/08/25
CJ Allen
Georgia inside linebacker CJ Allen (3) during Georgia’s game against Florida at Everbank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fl., on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (Conor Dillon/UGAAA)

Texas has a terrific group of linebackers but they’re not alone. Their schedule features some strong units and some others who are very effective when they can stay in their respective lanes.

Note: I’m evaluating off-the-ball linebacker groups, not edges with a LB designation.

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  1. Georgia
  2. Ohio State
  3. Texas A&M
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Arkansas

Georgia is the obvious #1. Elite front line starters with incredible depth. They’re led by CJ Allen, their 2nd leading tackler from a year ago. Allen combines high level athleticism with old school linebacking diagnostic ability. There’s a debate right now in NFL draft circles whether CJ Allen, Bama’s Deontae Lawtson, or Anthony Hill is the best off-the-ball LB in the 2026 draft. We may see all three go in the first round.

He is joined by Raylen Wilson, who looks like a carbon copy of Allen. Wilson runs a 4.5 40 and he’s particularly adept in pass coverage and simple pursuit. Backing them up are a pair of former 5 stars – Chris Cole and the state of Texas’ own Justin Williams, who was the talk of Spring camp. Backing those two up is 5 star Zayden Walker. Notice a trend? No wonder they felt entitled to 5 star super recruit Tyler Atkinson. Georgia has some real questions this year, but LB ain’t one of ’em.

Ohio State returns Sonny Styles, who made Bruce Feldman’s Freak List with a 40 inch vertical at 6-4, 243 pounds, and a 675 pound squat. The former 5 star safety is a terrific blitzer and had six sacks to go with his 100 tackles in 2024. He made a bunch of big plays against us in the playoff semifinal. He’s joined by Arvell Reese, who is Styles’ younger physical clone. Reese played 512 snaps last year, so he doesn’t lack experience. Their 3rd notable LB is state of Texas product Payton Pierce, who is the most instinctive LB on their team. The sophomore has a great nose for the football and surprising quickness. In their Spring game, Pierce was an absolute ball magnet. Matt Patricia may favor him over Reese as the season progresses.

Texas A&M has a ton of veteran experience and return all of the useful parts of their 2024 depth chart. Taurean York is the headliner and though he can get big- brothered by size and length (see Notre Dame, Texas and South Carolina games) if you keep him covered up, he’s a tackling machine. He’s also an excellent interior blitzer due to his change of direction and elite quickness (21 pressures last year). He’s not a great pass defender. His cohort Scooby Williams used to stink at Florida, but he improved significantly last year. Like York, he’s not great in coverage. Their #3 guy Daymeion Sanford is also back.

The Sooner linebacker corps can be a tough evaluation. Venables employs them for his cheats and hunches, firing them on automatics against certain formations or anticipated plays, so they tend to flash, as Venables is really good at that. The color guy then credits this to the player’s “instincts.”

Still, Kip Lewis seems poised for a big year. This clip demonstrates Kip Lewis’ athleticism and why Bama will be better at QB this year:

Lewis had a pair of pick six touchdowns last year and he’s a very good athlete. I could see a big level up from him. Kobie McKinzie missed 20% of his tackle attempts and is a competent blitzer who is often lost in coverage. Sammy Omosigho is a more instinctive player than either of them. I don’t know why he doesn’t start over McKinzie. It stands to reason that they all improve with experience and another year of development, but it’s honestly hard to get a handle on progress as native Sooner media and Venables eval only in superlatives. Jaren Kanak was their last LB obsession and he sucked. Remember Dasan McCullough? They tried to convince everyone that he was DeMarvion Overshown.

Arkansas isn’t going to be very good this year, but it won’t be their linebacker’s fault. The Pigs have a solid bunch of returning linebackers headlined by Xavian Sorey, Brad Shaw and Stephen Dix. Sorey is undersized but he led them in tackles, likes to guess (often correctly), and he will be a strong coverage asset. Dix is a more traditional between-the-tackles linebacker who finally found his place after stints at Florida State and Marshall. Brad Shaw did not play much last year, but he turned so many heads in the Spring, that defensive coordinator Travis Williams may incorporate a 3-3-5 defense simply to get him on the field and try to mitigate their lack of quality defensive linemen, outside of Cam Ball.

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