Longhorns Special Teams Preview: Rebuilding Texas football’s specialist squad

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In subtle fashion, special teams was a strength at times for Texas football during the 2025 season. But while the third phase of the game managed to help the Longhorns control field position and enable plays that would inevitably create momentum for offense and defense as last year’s football calendar rolled across the weeks and months, the program’s special teams still failed to reach a level that could be defined as elite last season.  

That was then. This is now.

And now, earlier this offseason, Texas was forced to replace both starting specialists from last year after kicker Mason Shipley, who was with the program for one season after transferring in from Texas State, and punter Jack Bouwmeester, an Australia native who also only played one season for the Longhorns, exhausted their respective eligibility. That left special teams coordinator Jeff Banks to figure out how to maintain production while incorporating new players at two of the most important, yet underrated, positions on the 2026 Texas roster.

Naturally, Texas looked to the NCAA Transfer Portal for answers. They seemingly found their answers, too.

In the transfer portal, the program found Memphis transfer Gianni Spetic, who will man place-kicking duties this season in place of Shipley. Spetic is what most analysts would define as experienced; at Memphis last season, he went 14-of-17 on field goals and 49-of-49 on extra points. Even better, Spetic’s range impressed last season, too: from 50 yards or longer, he made four of five attempts, and that also included a career-long 55-yard field goal.

Meanwhile, Florida State transfer Mac Chiumento, a fifth-year player, was added in replacement of Bouwmeester at the punter position. Last season, Chiumento averaged 44 yards per punt as a redshirt junior with the Seminoles; that includes six punts of at least 50 yards. He also managed to place 13 punts inside the 20-yard line.

Then there’s Texas’ return game in 2026. That’s where the magic is most likely to happen.

Last season, wide receiver (and speed demon, for his part) Ryan Niblett emerged as a dangerous punt returner, with potential to break loose for six any time he decides to catch a punt and run. He finished the 2025 season with 476 punt return yards on 21 attempts. Niblett averaged 22.7 yards per return and scored two touchdowns.

Beyond Niblett, emerging freshman Jermaine Bishop Jr. also has potential to eventually contribute to the punt return game, either late this year or in future seasons. The development of Bishop’s athleticism will undoubtedly prove crucial for maintaining special teams momentum this season and in the years ahead (if all goes to plan.)

Plus… Bishop would make for a nifty decoy to take all the heat off Niblett during punt returns.

It’s a talented special teams roster to look forward to in 2026. What will prove crucial, of course, will the reliability of players who have recently joined the program, whether as freshmen or transfers. We can only hope that the learning curve proves navigable for all recent additions.

Then again, Banks has mostly answered the call in his development of special teams players.

From our vantage point, Spetic and Chiumento have potential to prove crucial later this year.

As a unit, we anticipate a season in which the good times for special teams keep rolling.

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