Texas S Andrew Mukuba has been 'invaluable' for secondary

Texas football got an extremely valuable leader and talent addition to the safety room this offseason from the transfer portal and the Clemson Tigers, senior Andrew Mukuba. The Austin native Mukuba returned home for the final season of his collegiate eligibility in 2024 as a graduate transfer this offseason.

The Texas football safety room looks like it has been upgraded with additions like Andrew Mukuba and Xavier Filsaime in 2024

Mukuba's multiple years of starting experience at a top-notch college program with a P5 defense at Clemson has become valuable for him to help mentor and give a guiding voice to the younger safeties for the Longhorns. After Texas lost multiple safeties from last year's rotation in the Big 12, the secondary was looking for new leadership and stability to rejuvenate this secondary entering the SEC this coming fall.

"I’m going to bring a lot of energy, a winning mentality on the back end. I’m going to bring a lot of swagger and just playmaking ability. I feel like that’s what I do best and just being in the room with a lot of younger players, I feel like they can feed off of that and all I can do is just give them the knowledge of the game and hope they take that and apply it to their game."

- Andrew Mukuba

Through the first few weeks of preseason camp, Mukuba has emerged as a staple in Texas's group of top three or four safeties for the rotation in the defensive secondary this fall in the SEC. He and returning redshirt junior Michael Taaffe have been guiding voices to help the younger safeties at the position for Texas know where to be and get a better understanding of the defense as a whole this offseason and in camp/practice.

"You look at what we’re able to do recruiting-wise and what we’re able to do in the portal. To go get Andrew Mukuba, a three-year starter from Clemson to come back home to Austin has been a great addition at safety for us."

- Steve Sarkisian on Andrew Mukuba

OTF's Bobby Burton reported on Aug. 19 (premium content) that Mukuba's addition to the safety room and the defense as a whole has been "invaluable" entering the 2024 season. Mukuba reportedly did a nice job of helping to command the secondary to know where to be in pass coverage and make plays on the football at the right time in the last two fall scrimmages, including Saturday's scrimmage, where the secondary had a huge day again.

It's easy to tell from what we've heard and seen from the last few weeks of fall practice that Mukuba's presence in the secondary for Texas's first-team defensive unit that he's made a big impact on the rest of the group.

Since the first scrimmage of fall camp a couple of weekends ago, Mukuba has picked off the quarterbacks a couple of times in team drills and the two fall scrimmages.

Mukuba has also set the tone for Texas's safety position group this year with his business like-mentality, getting down to work right away in the weight room and in film study. He's set the tone on the practice field too, with his physicality and football IQ rubbing off on the other safeties when they're out there taking reps with him in individual and team drills on defense in the secondary.

It's abundantly clear that Mukuba will be a huge part of the safety rotation for Pete Kwiatkowski, Blake Gideon, and the Longhorns this fall in the SEC. The trio of him, sophomore Derek Williams Jr., and Taaffe should be the top three group at safety that fans watch going into the season in a couple of weeks for the secondary.

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