On top of EA Sports’ No. 8 ranking of the Texas defense ahead of the season, the Longhorns secondary has shown out in the past two weeks. One contribution to the success stems from the connection of three defensive backs dating back to their childhood.
Junior defensive back Michael Taaffe and senior defensive backs Jahdae Barron and Andrew Mukuba are all from Austin and have known each other since middle school, staying in touch throughout high school while they attended separate schools in the area.
“Who would have thought three guys from the Austin area (would be in) the back end, helping this Longhorn defense?” Taaffe said during Monday’s media availability.
While both Taaffe and Barron are veterans of the Texas program, Mukuba is making his Longhorn debut after his transfer to Texas from Clemson this offseason. In his three seasons with the Tigers, Mukuba accumulated 149 tackles and earned Freshman All-American honors in 2021. Despite being over 1,000 miles away, Mukuba still made it a priority to stay in contact with Barron — the two called each other frequently and compared notes from one another’s game performances.
“Jahdae (Barron), that’s like, one of my best friends,” Mukuba said. “Obviously, we keep in touch. We kept in touch the whole time I was in Clemson. So when he played, I made sure I was tuned in just watching. I’d call him after the game to talk about the game (and) what he messed up on. And he’d tell me, if he got to watch my game, he’d tell me what he’d seen (and) what I messed up on. I was definitely keeping up with what Texas had going on.”
With Mukuba returning to his stomping grounds, he has adjusted quickly to the Longhorn style of play and has already set himself apart. Other Texas players are taking notice.
“(Mukuba) ain’t really been much of an adjustment. He came in. He learned everything that he had to do, and he just bought right into it from day one,” senior linebacker David Gbenda said. “Man, he’s a really great dude, and he’s a great ballplayer, as y’all saw, but that wasn’t a surprise to us. We’ve seen what he’s capable of in his first little practices with us, and I’m not surprised by the performance he had against Michigan.”
In the matchup against Michigan last Saturday, Mukuba held four total tackles, three of them being solo. The secondary player even landed his second collegiate interception, first for Texas, in the second quarter.
Mukuba coming back to Austin was no coincidence. He mentioned that he was ready for a fresh start, and by the time he had entered the transfer portal, his childhood buddies were the ones to reach out.
“Jahdae was probably on the front line of recruiting Andrew,” Taaffe said. “But once I saw that he was in the portal, I shot him a text. And we knew what it was.”
Not only do the childhood ties seem to help these players work together to create a solid defensive back end, something Texas hasn’t seen in a long time, but Mukuba said he enjoys being back with his hometown friends.
“We have known each other for a while since the middle school (and) high school days,” Mukuba said. “So just seeing us grow together as football players, and also being from Austin, Texas where we’re well known, it’s just fun going out there with those guys and just being around those guys all the time.”
