Texas football safeties coach Blake Gideon has reportedly been hired by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to be their next defensive coordinator.
Early big board of candidates for Texas football to find their next safeties coach hire search
Gideon is set to replace former Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci, who left the Yellow Jackets for a linebackers coach job with the Baltimore Ravens. This news comes after Gideon spent the past four seasons at Texas as the Longhorns' safeties coach.
He helped to build a safety room that was one of the most formidable in the SEC this past season. Texas had the No. 7 ranked pass defense in the nation in 2024, which played a big role in helping the Longhorns reach the College Football Playoff national semifinals last postseason.
This is the first assistant who has left the Texas staff early this offseason. Texas has retained all other assistant coaches on head coach Steve Sarkisian's staff.
Here's a look at three early possible candidates Texas could target to hire to replace Gideon as their safeties coach.
Torrian Gray, South Carolina defensive backs coach
South Carolina Gamecocks fifth-year defensive backs coach Torrian Gray is a veteran DB coach who has over 20 years of coaching experience in this role between the NFL and college levels. Gray is also the defensive pass game coordinator for the Gamecocks, a promotion and job title upgrade he earned early this offseason for 2025.
Gray has spent much of his 20+ years in college and the NFL as a defensive backs coach on staffs in the SEC. In 2016 and then in 2019 and 2020, he was the defensive backs/corners coach with the Florida Gators. He's also served as South Carolina's defensive backs coach since 2021.
He's coached up multiple NFL defensive backs in the past two decades as a defensive coach, including Kam Chancellor, Kyle Fuller, Terrell Edmunds, Kendall Fuller, and Brandon Flowers, among many others.
If the Longhorns wanted to find an experienced position coach who has an NFL track record and resume of recruiting and developing talent at a high level in the SEC, Gray is a candidate option worth possibly kicking the tires on and reaching out to.
Jimmy Lake, former Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator
Former Washington Huskies defensive coordinator and head coach Jimmy Lake was let go by the Atlanta Falcons early this offseason. He spent the 2024 season as the Falcons defensive coordinator after being hired as the assistant head coach of the Los Angeles Rams a couple of offseasons ago.
Lake has a long track record as a defensive coordinator and a DB coach in college and the NFL. He worked mostly with defensive backs on Washington's coaching staff in the 2010s while Texas defensive play-caller Pete Kwiatkowski mostly worked with the front seven.
PK and Lake have spent multiple years working together as defensive coaches at Washington, along with the Boise State Broncos and FCS Montana State Bobcats. He's got the West Coast connections that PK and Sarkisian can utilize for a pipeline on the trail recruiting in California and the PNW.
Michael Huff, Texas assistant director of player development
Former legendary Texas safety and assistant director of player development Michael Huff is a realistic candidate for the Longhorns to promote to replace Gideon if they look for an internal hire to fill this job opening on the staff. Huff is someone that the current defensive backs at Texas are familiar with, and he brings a certain level of stability that would help the internal culture of the locker room moving forward in the coming years.
Huff has found success helping Texas on the recruiting trail for the past few years. He's also got a solid NFL background from his time in the pros playing for the Baltimore Ravens, Oakland Raiders, and Denver Broncos.