{"id":359992,"date":"2026-07-03T14:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/359992\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T14:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:26:10","slug":"texas-may-have-the-best-defensive-back-class-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/359992\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas May Have the Best Defensive Back Class in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn\u2019t but two years ago that Texas<\/a> boasted one of the nation\u2019s best passing defenses. Back in 2024, the Longhorns’ first year in the SEC, the Texas passing defense finished No. 7 nationally, allowing just 173.8 passing yards per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, despite bringing back contributors like veteran safety Michael Taaffe<\/a>, Jaylon Guilbeau, and Jelani McDonald, the Longhorns\u2019 passing defense turned from a strength into a weakness last season. Texas went from finishing inside the top-10 in passing defense to finishing barely inside the top-100 at No. 97.<\/p>\n

Now, though, fresh off giving up 234.9 passing yards per game, the Longhorns look intent on not letting that happen again. With defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and defensive passing game coordinator Blake Gideon back on the Forty Acres, the Longhorns are putting together what may be the nation\u2019s best defensive back recruiting class.<\/p>\n

\u00a0John Meredith – Five-Star CB\"Jahdae<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns defensive back Jahdae Barron (7) celebrates after the Red River Rivalry college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. Texas one 34-3. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Nothing may bring fans more joy than the Longhorns beating their archrival on the field, but seeing Texas beat out Texas A&M for the No. 2 player in the nation may be second.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is exactly what the Longhorns did when they landed Fort Worth, Texas, native John Meredith, who announced his commitment to a nationwide audience via the Pat McAfee Show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He is the No. 1 cornerback in the class, and his Rivals profile gives him a comparison to two-time first-team All-Pro Sauce Gardner.<\/p>\n

Brandon Sherrard – Four-Star CB<\/p>\n

The most recent defensive back to join Texas\u2019s class, committed to the Longhorns on Wednesday over LSU and Texas A&M, among others. Rivals ranks him as the No. 21 cornerback in the class at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montre Jackson – Four-Star CB<\/p>\n

Then right behind Sherrard in the rankings is the fellow Texas commit from Garland, Texas. Jackson verbally committed<\/a> to the Longhorns back at the end of June, picking them over the likes of SMU, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He ranks as the No. 25 cornerback in the class per Rivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Junior Tu\u2019upo – Four-Star S<\/p>\n

The Alabaster, Alabama, native is the lone safety currently in the class. He also chose Texas back at the end of June and ranks as the No. 22 safety in the class and No. 256 prospect nationally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sign up to\u00a0our free newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for the latest news.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t but two years ago that Texas boasted one of the nation\u2019s best passing defenses. Back in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-359992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}