Texas received mixed results on special teams in non-conference play

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All of a sudden, the Texas Longhorns are through non-conference play and one quarter of the way through the 2026 season, emerging from the first three games as the No. 1 team in the country, but nonetheless faced with some significant questions moving forward into the crucible of SEC play.

For special teams coordinator Jeff Banks and his unit, the third phase is a microcosm of the team with an impressive start from senior kicker Gianni Spetic, strong deep snapping and holding operations, and uneven play elsewhere. Overall, SP+ ranks the Longhorns as the No. 25 special teams unit through Week 3.

An Ohio and Memphis transfer who was previously inconsistent between 40 and 49 yards, Spetic is 5-of-5 so far with a long of 52 yards in Saturday’s 30-6 win over Texas State. In the season opener, Spetic wasn’t needed until late in the game, coming on for a low-leverage, 48-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to make it 52-7. Against Ohio State, the Ohio native had an easier task in a higher-leverage moment, connecting from 37 yards to put Texas on the board in the second quarter. As the Longhorns struggled to finish drives against the Roadrunners, Spetic played a larger role, making the 52 yarder late in the first quarter to tie for his third-longest career kick, connecting from 34 yards before halftime, and knocking through a 23-yard attempt midway through the third quarter.

The only shaky moment so far from Spetic was negated by penalty — before hitting the 23-yard field goal, Spetic missed wide right from 36 yards, but Jakevian Rodgers was called for a roughing the kicker penalty after recklessly crashing into Spetic, who was slow to get up but showed no ill effects of the collision on his subsequent attempt.

“I think Giovanni continues to be a weapon for us,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday.

Spetic has also been effective on kickoffs with a 77.3 percent touchback rate that marks significant improvement from last season for the Memphis transfer even though his overall average remains similar.

“The amount of touchbacks we’re getting on kickoffs has been tremendous,” Sarkisian said.

While the portal addition of Spetic to replace Mason Shipley has gone well, Florida State transfer punter Mac Chiumento hasn’t been as good in his six attempts replacing Jack Bouwmeester. After the Texas offense found enough success to avoid punting in the season opener, Chiumento’s first punt against Ohio State, went 43 yards and resulted in a 16-yard return, his second went 43 yards, and his third was poorly hit, a 36-yard attempt when the Longhorns needed a booming effort from their 26-yard line to flip the field and didn’t get it. Chiumento finished the game with an average of 40.7 yards per punt.

In the second quarter against the Roadrunners, Chiumento had a chance to pin UTSA inside its own 20-yard line, but his 38-yard effort came up five yards short. Out of halftime, Chiumento hit another punt poorly, a 36-yarder that also included a face-mask penalty on senior safety Derek Williams, one of three special teams penalties on Texas on Saturday. Chiumento’s final punt against UTSA was his best of a season, a 52 yarder that is doing heavy lifting for his 41.3-yard average that is down almost three yards from his 2025 average.

If Chiumento keeps hitting punts so poorly, Banks might have to consider replacing the senior with freshman Mikey Bukauskas.

The 16-yard return by Ohio State’s Brandon Inniss accounts for the only yardage against the Texas punt coverage unit so far — a second effort was stopped for no gain. On kickoff coverage, the Longhorns have allowed 20.2 yards per return on five returns, a number that ranks 84th nationally, with a long of 26 yards. Given the available talent, that’s an area for improvement — when opponents opt to return kicks, Texas needs to make them pay by winning the field-position battle.

The urgency exists in part because opponents are doing that to the Horns. The decision making of senior Ryan Niblett on kickoff returns is tough to decipher, but the results are not. On four returns this season, Niblett is only averaging 13.3 yards, 117th nationally, resulting in consistent loss of field position thanks to a nine-yard return against Texas State when Niblett wasn’t able to make a clean catch (minus 15 yards), a 16-yard return against Ohio State (minus three yards), a 12-yard return against UTSA (minus nine yards), and a 19-yard return on Saturday (minus six yards) that also resulted in a holding penalty on freshman wide receiver Kohen Brown that forced Texas to start its drive on its own 8-yard line, nearly leading to a safety on the next play.

So the four returns have resulted in a combined 33 yards of lost field position, not including the penalty that netted a minus 17 yards on the return.

Like the coverage units, there is simply too much available talent on this Texas roster to be so bad on kickoff returns.

“There was a couple tough calls we got in the return game that we need to clean up, but it was good to get Ryan with the ball in his hands in the return game,” Sarkisian said. “We need to shore up some things in the kickoff return game to to be even better there.”

As a point of contention — the Longhorns have been actively bad on kickoff returns, so being “even better” would require Texas to first be good in that phase, which is not remotely close to what has happened through the first three games.

The punt return unit did so some signs of life against UTSA, much to head coach Jeff Traylor’s chagrin, after Texas State and Ohio State successfully kicked away from Niblett and the Buckeyes were able to inflict a two-yard loss on Niblett’s only punt return through the first two games. The Roadrunners tried towards the sideline, a tactic that contributed to a 38.5-yard average on eight punts, but Niblett’s longest return, of 34 yards, was negated by a block in the back penalty on sophomore defensive end Lance Jackson. Niblett did have a 14-yard return in the third quarter.

So Niblett looked as dangerous as expected against UTSA, but outside of those flashes and Spetic’s touchbacks, the other aspects of the four kickoff and punt units are not to the standard engendered by Banks’ reputation, especially considering the mishandled kickoff by Niblett and his muffed punt against Ohio State that required some good fortune not to result in a game-changing turnover.

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