As expected, some Texas players are officially opting out of the Citrus Bowl on December 31st due to multiple reasons. Most of the time it's due to the simple fact that guys are trying to conserve their NFL Draft stock by not taking a chance on getting injured or having a poor performance in their final collegiate game.
Though that's understandable, there are a couple of last-minute additions to the team's defensive portion of the list that are somewhat "head scratchers".
Texas' 2025 Citrus Bowl opt-out list (Defense)
- LB Anthony Hill Jr.
- S Michael Taaffe
- CB Malik Muhammad
- DE Ethan Burke
- LB/DE Trey Moore
- CB Jaylon Guilbeau
Seeing Hill Jr., Taaffe, Burke, and Moore on the list comes to no surprise, but Malik Muhammad and Jaylon Guilbeau? Now that's interesting.
Though the idea's been thrown around here and there, Muhammad hasn't been an expected 2026 NFL Draft entrant so this is somewhat shocking to see. It's possible that the NFL Draft Advisory Board (CAC) gave him a higher projected draft grade than the public thinks, so we'll see what happens there.
The other unexpected opt-out is Jaylon Guilbeau, as he hasn't been viewed as much of a draft prospect based on his underwhelming play in 2025 when on the field.
He's strictly been a rotational or part time player throughout his entire career, and he was beaten out by not only one, but two true freshmen (Graceson Littleton and Kade Phillips) for snaps this season. We'd be curious to know his thought process for the decision, as he's the type of player who'd usually want to play in the bowl game to raise his draft stock.
It'll be interesting to follow along with his storyline over the next couple of weeks to see why he made the choice to skip the game.