Texas Football: David Gbenda has ‘hit another gear’ this offseason

There aren’t many position battles for Texas football heading into fall camp. One of the few position battles that will take place in fall camp is at will linebacker. Texas will see redshirt senior David Gbenda and junior Morice Blackwell Jr. duke it out for starting reps at the will linebacker position in fall camp.

Gbenda is the more experienced of the two candidates for the starting job at will linebacker, but the ceiling with Blackwell is probably higher. I say probably because we haven’t seen enough from Blackwell consistently since converting from safety to linebacker to definitively say what his performance will be like at the will spot.

We did mention on the site on July 20 that Blackwell has continued to “earn more trust” from the coaching staff this summer.

Texas football LB David Gbenda making more positive strides this summer

Moreover, while Gbenda is the more experienced of the two candidates to start at will linebacker, many Longhorns fans are skeptical about his ability to fit the scheme and diagnose plays on the field. Play diagnosis and knowing where to be on the field were issues for Gbenda in his first few seasons on campus.

He had issues missing assignments in pass defense and often took poor tackling approaches (leading to nine missed tackles on 40 attempts in his first three seasons at Texas).

But it sounds like Gbenda is making positive strides this offseason to correct some of the past issues he faced with on-field awareness and read-and-react ability. We’ve heard positive feedback regarding Gbenda’s performance in workouts and practice since the winter strength and conditioning program earlier this offseason.

Gbenda has apparently continued to impress his teammates and the coaches this summer with his preparation levels and progress on the practice field. CJ Vogel of TFB Texas reported on July 21 (donor content) that some of the player representatives for the Longhorns at Big 12 Media Days said that Gbenda has “hit another gear in his preparation and offseason approach”.

Suppose Gbenda continues to improve his ability to diagnose routes in coverage and contest space in run defense and the short passing game. In that case, he’ll be a legitimate candidate to push for the starting job at will linebacker in Week 1 against the Rice Owls.

Gbenda was on the right track last fall at will linebacker

It’s worth noting that Gbenda had the best season of his collegiate career playing at will linebacker behind senior DeMarvion Overshown last fall. While the number of defensive snaps he took dipped compared to the prior two seasons, Gbenda posted a career-best 79.4 defensive grade in 2022.

And while this is a super relevant point to Gbenda improving in pass coverage, he was the second-highest-graded linebacker in run defense in the Big 12 last season (among those that took at least 25 snaps in run defense). At least that phase of his game is solid.

If Gbenda can continue making the strides he started to show on the field at will linebacker last season, he will have a decent shot at winning the starting job at the position in fall camp ahead of the 2023 season.