What Does Duane Akina Bring Back to Texas Longhorns?
It didn’t take long after the departure of Terry Joseph before the Texas Longhorns hired their new defensive backs coach. The news of Joseph’s replacement came Monday evening, as the report of the hiring of Duane Akina – a familiar face on the Forty Acres – broke.
This not only marked the return of the 68-year-old assistant coach who spent 12 prior seasons at Texas under then-head coach Mack Brown. But also the hiring of a decorated defensive backs coach who is no stranger to developing strong secondaries.
Longhorn fans only need to look back at Akina’s prior stint in Austin to see exactly what he brings to the Texas coaching staff under head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Over his 12 seasons in Austin, Akina’s resume looks as follows:
• 2 Thorpe Award Winners
• 4 Thorpe Award Finalists
• 5 All-Americans
• 5 1st round NFL Draft Picks
• 15 NFL Draft Picks
• 12 All-Conference Selections
The list of players who Akina recruited and then coached includes a long list of players, who all went on to have careers in the NFL. Some of those names are Michael Huff, Earl Thomas, Aaron Ross, and Michael Griffin.
This doesn’t even mention now former Texas safeties coach Blake Gideon, who left this offseason for the defensive coordinator job at Georgia Tech.
In some respects, there is an argument that the Longhorns upgraded now in the departure of Gedeon and Joseph. Which says more about Akina’s past success than those two coaches who have each earned promotions elsewhere.
He will now return to a Texas secondary that does lose key pieces from last season’s defense that was among the country’s best against the pass. Jahdae Barron and Andrew Mukuba are both off to the NFL.
However, Akina will still have plenty of talent to work. Which will be headlined by the return of second-team All-American safety Michael Taaffe.
