The best offensive player on each team Texas faces in 2025

Yesterday Evan Vieth looked at the best defensive player Texas would face in every game on the 2025 schedule. Today, we’re looking at the offensive side of the ball. The strategies Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense will need to employ to stop these particular players range from the kitchen sink to the cupcake. Let’s dig in. 

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Ohio State: WR Jeremiah Smith

Texas will face no better player than Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. And the Longhorns get the tall task of guarding him in the very first game of the season on the road in Columbus. In the College Football Playoff last year, Texas was able to limit Smith to one catch for four yards thanks to a bracket coverage that worked to perfection. But, the Longhorns won’t have the luxury of the Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron shutting down one side of the field this time. Plus, it’s the first game of the season where the Buckeyes will be trotting out a new quarterback. Ryan Day and recently promoted OC Brian Hartline will get Smith the ball at all costs. They’ll still have Carnell Tate on the other side of the field too. It will be up to the great Texas pass rush, Malik Muhammad and whatever corners emerge in fall camp to limit how much damage they’re able to do.

San Jose State: RB Floyd Chalk IV

The 5’7″ back packs a punch at 192 pounds and had a nice end to his 2024 season. He got in the end zone 10 times for Ken Niumatalolo’s Spartan offense which utilizes the triple option. It will be interesting to see how facing an old school option offense informs Texas for speed option attacks they’ll face later in the season.

UTEP: WR Kenny Odom

The Georgia native is an explosive player on a bad offense. He’ll need to be accounted for after averaging 16.1 yards per catch last season for the Miners. A good early test for young corners like Kobe Black after the smoke clears off the Ohio State game.

Sam Houston: No offense, but does it matter? Moving on.

Florida: QB DJ Lagway

Possibly the most terrifying opponent Texas faces next season. The Willis passer is a star in the making and gets the Longhorns at The Swamp. He’s the primary reason Billy Napier is back for another season in Gainesville and facing him in the first game of Texas’ SEC slate will be a tall order. Anthony Hill will get to play a lot of chase in this October matchup.

Oklahoma: QB John Mateer

The Mateer love is strong right now, both nationally and in Norman. The dynamic thrower and runner from Washington State by way of Little Elm was recently ranked by Joel Klatt as the country’s third best quarterback going into 2025. He followed Wazzu play caller Ben Arbuckle to Norman set on saving Brent Venables‘ job by bringing the Air Raid back. Texas fans who are writing Mateer off are making a mistake. He’s legit. But he will be low on weapons. Cal transfer running back Jadyn Ott and wide receiver Deion Burks are really solid players, but they saw a plethora of exits from their wide receiver room. Mateer will have to put the team on his back against a veteran Texas defense with a ton of speed and ability to force him to make mistakes.

Kentucky: Guard Jager Burton

Burton is a Bluegrass veteran who has started 34 games for Kentucky. He should be one of the first interior lineman selected in the 2026 draft. Good for him. Unfortunately for him, his last year in Lexington is going to be spent on my prediction for the worst team in the SEC. I think Mark Stoops‘ time in blue is running out. 

Mississippi State: RB Fluff Bothwell

The Bulldogs are essentially a different team than they were last year in Austin. No transfer was more crushing than their loss of talented quarterback Michael Van Buren. So running back Davon Booth is the most familiar name on their roster but I have to go with one of the greatest names of all time in this category. This name is so good he might be my favorite non-Longhorn player in college football already. Not to offend the next name on this list. But really, Bothwell is no fluff. He put up 832 yards at 7.5 ypc for South Alabama last year and got in the endzone 13 times. He’s a home run hitter and is the type of big play back the defense will need to account for. 

Vanderbilt: QB Diego Pavia

The Land of Enchantment’s pride and joy, Pavia is back! Pavia is making a career out of college football and is the type of gamer who makes for great television when the Commodores are on. Pavia gave Texas a bit of a challenge last year in Nashville, but Vanderbilt is still relatively low on weapons. Nonetheless, their speed option is a tricky offense to defend and Pavia has a PhD in it at this point. 

Georgia: WR Zachariah Branch

Running back Nate Frazier, tight end Oscar Delp and even Texas A&M transfer Noah Thomas are known commodities. All very good players who will make a game in Athens very difficult. And even though he defeated Texas in Atlanta, I still need to see more from Gunner Stockton to put him here. So, for this category I felt like it made more sense to go with a potential gamebreaker. Branch burst onto the scene for Lincoln Riley’s Trojans in 2023, but his career at USC fizzled. He’s not the type of playmaker you typically see wearing a Georgia uniform. But, the Bulldogs wide receivers had an epidemic of drops last year and very little big play ability. Branch could be nothing more than a gadget player, or he could be the type of weapon who takes Kirby Smart’s offense to a new level. Steve Sarkisian’s 2024 Longhorns were historically good at not giving up big plays and the return of Michael Taaffe certainly helps continue that trend. Besides Smith and Ohio State, Georgia will test Texas more than any team they face in 2025 due to the sheer level of NFL talent at every position. 

Arkansas: QB Taylen Green

Green draws comparisons to Vince Young because of his running style which is more of a glide than a sprint. The similarities stop there. Green is a good quarterback, but Texas regularly put him on the grass in Fayetteville last year in what amounted to a huge coming out party for Colin Simmons. I see more of the same this year. 

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Texas A&M: RB Le’Veon Moss

One of the last members of Jimbo Fisher’s prized 2022 recruiting class will make his return from injury this season. A knee injury against South Carolina ended Moss’ stellar season and doomed the Aggies to their perennial 8-4 record. Most importantly, the Longhorns didn’t have to face Moss in College Station last year. Who knows if their multiple attempts at running into the teeth of the Longhorns defensive line would’ve gone differently if he had been there, but they’ll be able to find out this year if he stays healthy. But, this was a harder question to answer than you might think, because the Aggies will have a lot more weapons than they did last year. Quarterback Marcel Reed is a year older and transfer additions Mario Craver and KC Concepcion will dramatically bolster what was an abysmal wide receiving corps last season. It should be a much tougher task than it was last year, when Texas held the Aggies to zero points offensively.