It's no secret that the Texas football team is heading into the 2025 season with an incredible amount of hype, and another impressive statistic has just emerged to solidify that excitement. According to Max Chadwick and PFF, the Longhorns are one of only four teams heading into the year with both a top 5-ranked offense and defense.
Maxwell Award watchlist QB Arch Manning and RB Quintrevion Wisner lead an offense poised to dominate this season, and Colin Simmons returns as the top defensive player in the SEC.
The Longhorns were seemingly "worried" about their wide receiver room early on in the spring but it appears as though Steve Sarkisian now views it as a strength of the team. Ryan Wingo, DeAndre Moore, Emmett Mosley V, Parker Livingstone, and blue-chip true freshmen Kaliq Lockett, Jaime Ffrench, and Daylan McCutcheon make up an extremely versatile and intriguing group of pass catchers. Incoming transfer tight end Jack Endries also figures to be a key cog in Texas' offensive game plan in 2025.
Teams with a Top 5 Offense AND Defense in College Football🔥 pic.twitter.com/wEbGdFNrKt
— PFF College (@PFF_College) July 28, 2025
Though the offensive line's current lack of depth could be seen as an issue right now, the starting unit is more than talented enough to get the job done in the trenches this season.
The Longhorns undoubtedly have one of the most talented front-7s in all of college football right now, led by the aforementioned Colin Simmons and star linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. It's very possible that Hill Jr. could end up being the first linebacker off the board in the 2026 NFL Draft next April. The talented group of incoming transfers along the interior defensive line should help bolster an already good run defense in 2025 as well.
Michael Taaffe returns as one of the top, if not the top, safeties in the nation, alongside talented veteran cornerback Malik Muhammad and up-and-coming sophomore Kobe Black. Texas looks to have the best pass defense again this season, after dominating in that area in 2024.