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3 reasons Texas's secondary will be much better in 2024

Texas's defensive backfield appears to be in a much better spot talent and depth-wise than it was a season ago under Terry Joseph and Blake Gideon.

By Andrew Miller

Derek Williams Jr., Texas football
Derek Williams Jr., Texas football / Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman
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Malik Muhammad, Texas football
Malik Muhammad, Texas football / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA

Young defensive backs get another full year in the system

The aforementioned Williams has the potential to be the best safety Texas has in the fold this season. Williams showed flashes of last season of becoming the type of ranging and physical safety Texas needs to anchor this secondary in the SEC for multiple years.

By the end of last season, Williams was already arguably Texas's best and most consistent safety in pass coverage at all levels of the field. He continued to impress with another year in the weight room and with the valuable added practice reps during camp in the spring.

Horns247 reported earlier this month that Williams is looking even more comfortable in Year 2 in this defensive scheme under PK and should be an even bigger part of this defense's success in his second season in 2024.

Joining Williams among Texas's top secondary players in 2024, sophomore cornerback Malik Muhammad is a candidate to be an All-SEC performer this coming fall. Muhammad enters the 2024 season as the hands-down No. 1 cornerback for the Longhorns' secondary.

Like Williams, Muhammad was thrust into a starting role out of necessity late in conference play last year in the Big 12 when Texas needed someone to step up to the plate. After then-junior cornerback Terrance Brooks went down with an injury in October, Muhammad stepped up in a big way to bring much-needed stability and reliability to Texas's pass defense at the field corner spot.

Muhammad was not just one of Texas's best defensive backs down the stretch last season at a critical juncture of the campaign, contributing to a defense that helped win the Big 12 Championship and make the College Football Playoff in 2023-24. He also graded out as the top cornerback in the Big 12 in the final five weeks of the 2023 season.

The heightened expectations behind this improved Texas secondary will thrust a spotlight on Williams and Muhammad as leaders of the defense at this level in training camp and early in the season. They have all the tools necessary to succeed and I expect Williams and Muhammad to show they are two of the best underclassmen defensive backs in the SEC this fall.

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