Inside Texas had reported since the end of Spring that Kobe Black was cross-training between corner and safety but he recently moved full time to safety. Many have wanted or predicted this move since his senior year of high school—well, here it is.
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What’s exciting is Black isn’t moving because he can’t play corner. He’s moving because he has very good cover attributes but also safety disposition and diagnostics. He’s really not limited in any way from becoming a star at the position, he just needs time.
This move gives Texas a two-deep of Jelani McDonald and Derek Williams and Jordon Johnson-Rubell and Kobe Black. Jonah Williams is an August wildcard.
Black wasn’t the only full time move. Xavier Filsaime had been cross-training between safety and Star (nickel) but is excelling at Star and that looks like a permanent move, at least as far as 2026 goes. I wouldn’t have thought it’s permanent, necessarily, but that’s how good we hear he’s doing. Keep in mind, though he played safety last year, he also worked at Star during the season in practice.
Filsaime is battling with Graceson Littleton and Wardell Mack and has received time with the ones.
With the Black move, some may worry about corner depth but there’s still a strong top-four of Bo Mascoe, Kade Phillips, Warren Roberson, and Samari Matthews. It also opens the door for *some* potential reps for Jermaine Bishop. We still fully expect Bishop to play the lion’s share of his snaps at receiver.
If worst case scenario injuries hit the secondary, Filsaime can always move back to safety or Black can return to corner. Littleton and Mack can also play cornerback.
It would have been odd if Muschamp arrived at Texas and didn’t move some chess pieces around. So far, this is what his board looks like.
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