IT Convos: Who do you think is the most underrated player on the 2026 Texas Football team?

We posed this question to the Inside Texas board yesterday, and it comes at a fair time of the year to wonder.

[Sign up for Inside Texas for $1! Get the latest on the Longhorns HERE]

The Horns won’t be playing much football until the summer, so it’s a decent time to plant your flag in between the information you’ve garnered from spring practice and the real emergences that come from the summer.

Our Ian Boyd was quick to make his case:

First guy that came to mind was Bo Mascoe. Possibly the best defensive back on a team with one of the best secondaries in the nation.

He’s coming from relative obscurity out at Rutgers, has more famous teammates, and isn’t particularly large or impressive physically. No one talks about him much but he might be the alpha piece of the back end

Mascoe’s entrance to Texas went fairly under the radar compared to Cam Coleman or even fellow defender Rasheem Biles, ranking as just the No. 75 player in the transfer portal.

What’s most notable with Mascoe is that it seems he’s already locked down a starting outside cornerback role, competing with the uber-talented freshmen Graceson Littleton among other veteran CBs on the team.

Ian makes a good point. Mascoe may just be the best cornerback, or defensive back, in the program right now, and has some ball-hawking and coverage capabilities that lend to a potential havoc-rate machine. Eric Nahlin also noted the connection with former Rutgers CB coach Mark Orphey, who personally targeted Mascoe for this room, and Mascoe’s 83.1 PFF grade in coverage in 2025.

@Gohorns8 was quick to mention Alex January, which many agreed with. That quickly provided a trend for a lot of our readers; the defensive line doesn’t get enough love outside of Colin Simmons.

While it’s been widely reported how elite Simmons is as a pass rusher, Texas boasts a strong defensive line next to him. January is young compared to what you’d expect for a player with this many reps and three years in the program, but he seems like as good a breakout bet as anyone.

That also could be the case for Lance Jackson, a freak of nature true sophomore edge rusher who flashed in his first year. I don’t think it would surprise anyone if he found a way onto an All-SEC team, despite relatively zero national recognition as a high-level breakout candidate. For similar athletic reasons and experience, other commenters added Zina Umeozulu and Maraad Watson.

Ryan Niblett was another hot topic, as I wrote about just under two weeks ago. For being such an elite punt returner and a contributor on offense, it feels like there’s very little press nationally. He should be the clear frontrunner for the Jet Award, but many would rather save special teams talk to during the season.

Still, this was one of the best players on last year’s team, someone who singlehandedly kept them in three games during a rocky middle of the year.

There was also a group who pointed out Ryan Wingo and Jelani McDonald, which @ruraljuror put well:

Jelani McDonald is kind of at the bottom of the “A list” of team stars, and is getting overshadowed by Arch, Simmons, Goosby, Coleman. I know people know about him but he’s a freaking stud.

Neither are the true superstar names of this team, but they are immensely talented and athletic players with proven production in years past. In some ways they are overshadowed by the likes of Simmons and Coleman.

But one name that continued to come up, rounding out the list, is WR Emmett Mosley.

Want to talk about overshadowed? Try being the third guy in a room with the No. 1 transfer WR and Texas WR1 from the season past.

But Mosley was a vital part of last year’s team once healthy, averaging 55 yards per game to end the year, making numerous plays against Mississippi State and showing reliability against Georgia.

He’s the least flashy of the trio, but he may have the best hands and is a perfect 3rd down target when needing a safe play to move the chains. Mosley also doesn’t get enough credit for his willingness to block and solid foot speed. While the rest of the nation, and defenses, are focused on Arch Manning, Coleman, Wingo and the new RB tandem, Mosley will find ways to be a positive player every time he’s called upon.