The Texas Longhorns are fresh off their best season in well over a decade and have all intentions of building off of their 12-2 season.
It was a season that saw them win the Big 12 and appear in their first-ever College Football Playoff. However, as all successful teams have to deal with after big years, they are seeing an influx of players declaring for the NFL Draft or leaving via the transfer portal. Their defense has already been hit hard with defensive tackles T'Vondre Sweat and Bryon Murphy II declaring for the draft, while also losing a few members of the secondary.
While their linebacker corps will be headlined by former five-star Anthony Hill, they did lose Jaylan Ford to the NFL which was a huge blow to the defense in both on-field performance, and leadership. However, on Tuesday evening they received some extremely positive news on the defensive side, as fifth-year linebacker Daid Gbenda announced he would be returning to Austin for a sixth year.
Gbenda, who came to Texas as a four-star recruit in the 2019 class had his best season as a Longhorn yet. He recorded a career-high 50 total tackles, a career-high two pass deflections, and also tied his career-high in sacks with 1.5. He took to the app formerly known as Twitter to make his decision known.
He not only provides some much-needed leadership in the linebacker corps, but can also hit another level with Ford no longer in the picture.
The Texas defense was as stout as they come against the run, but needed some work in pass coverage. Gbenda has the athleticism and savvy to be effective in both, which makes this arguably one of the biggest retentions of the offseason.
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