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Steve Sarkisian, Texas hire Duane Akina to coach safeties

By Jeff Howe

· 7892 views

Hours after the news of Terry Joseph’s move to the New Orleans Saints went public, Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian has filled the vacant defensive coaching staff position with the architect of some of the top secondaries in school history.

Sources told On Texas Football on Monday that the Longhorns have hired Duane Akina as their safeties coach, a move first reported by Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods. Most recently, the defensive coordinator at Arizona, the 68-year-old Akina was the Texas defensive backs coach under Mack Brown for 13 seasons (2001-13).

Texas won the 2005 national championship, two Big 12 titles (2005 and 2009), a Rose Bowl (2004) and a Fiesta Bowl (2008) during Akina's first stint in Austin. The Longhorns also produced two Jim Thorpe Award winners under Akina: Michael Huff (2005) and Aaron Ross (2006).

Akina coached some of the top defenses in school history, including the 2001 group, which led the nation in total defense (236.2 yards per game and 3.8 yards per play allowed). The four starters in Akina's first Texas secondary (Rod Babers, Ahmad Brooks, Quentin Jammer and Nathan Vasher) played in the NFL; Jammer was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2002 draft, while Vasher was a Pro Bowl selection and an All-Pro for the Chicago Bears.

Jammer was one of six first-round picks Akina coached during his time with the Longhorns. Along with Jammer, Huff (2006) and Ross (2007), Michael Griffin (2007), Earl Thomas (2010) and Kenny Vaccaro (2013) were first-round picks; like Jammer, Thomas was a finalist for the Thorpe Award, headlining a 2009 Texas defense that led the nation with 25 interceptions.

Huff, Ross and Griffin joined 2006 second-round pick Cedric Griffin and 2007 fifth-round selection Tarell Brown to form arguably the best defensive backfield in school history in 2005. Those five helped lead the charge on defense en route to the Longhorns winning their most recent national championship.

Akina coached or recruited 15 NFL draft picks and eight All-Americans in his first stint on the Texas staff.

 

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    Lifetime Longhorn

    Burnt Orange Horn

    Supporters
    2 hours ago, SuperDave0805 said:

    Plan is asking who the NIL check should be made out to 

    Akina does not have to travel to recruit.  He merely needs told hold court in the Texas athletic center and give tours of the awards his former players have accrued 

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    Lifetime Longhorn

    Burnt Orange Horn

    Supporters
    39 minutes ago, cmk4pres said:

    Spin. I'm huge Akina fan 12-15 years ago. Respected no doubt. But this will be used against him any way you slice it 

    Akina points to his player's awards lining the Texas Athletics Center.  

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    • Haha 2
    Freshman

    Thatboyb

    Members

    Love to see it 🤘🏾🤘🏾

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    • First Round Pick

    Austalgia

    Supporters

    Seems like a good hire.  Hope we can maintain the presence in Louisiana that Terry Joseph afforded us. 

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    • Redshirt

    bgreen04

    Supporters

    Realistically, doubt he lasts more than two years. He will be 70+ at that point. Can also move him to analyst next year if he can’t do everything we need. 

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    • Lifetime Longhorn

    GoHorns1

    Supporters
    6 minutes ago, Austalgia said:

    Seems like a good hire.  Hope we can maintain the presence in Louisiana that Terry Joseph afforded us. 

    LaAllen Clarke is from Baton Rouge 

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    Lifetime Longhorn

    SuperDave0805

    Supporters

    Any good Arizona DBs Akina can bring with him?

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    • All-Conference

    DiggsTX

    Supporters
    (edited)

    Any chance Dalton Johnson or Genesis Smith want to re-enter the portal and come with for their last year?

    Edited by DiggsTX

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    • Lifetime Longhorn

    horns96

    Supporters
    3 hours ago, cmk4pres said:

    Spin. I'm huge Akina fan 12-15 years ago. Respected no doubt. But this will be used against him any way you slice it 

     

    DBU.png

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    All-Conference

    HookedOnTF

    Supporters
    3 hours ago, bgreen04 said:

    Realistically, doubt he lasts more than two years. He will be 70+ at that point. Can also move him to analyst next year if he can’t do everything we need. 

    Very bearish take but even if he only goes 2 years and we bag a natty, who's going to complain? (That's rhetorical!)

    If he's feeling it for 4 years, that's a fair tenure for any assistant, and with some luck, we're contending for multiple titles.

    Your floor of a demotion in a year is highly unlikely. 

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    All-American

    Jack Lala

    Members

    DBU be back. Great hire. Akina will improve all facets of our D.

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    • First Round Pick

    FootLaw

    Supporters
    10 hours ago, CJ Vogel said:

    The idea that Akina's age will cost Texas on the recruiting trail is crazy to me. I promise that is so far down the list of what’s important in recruiting right now. 

    Many folks don't understand how high-energy Akina is haha!

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    All-American

    John Moore

    Members

    Our zone vs man coverage % is about to do a 180

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    Lifetime Longhorn

    Tuco Ramirez

    Supporters
    12 hours ago, CJ Vogel said:

    The idea that Akina's age will cost Texas on the recruiting trail is crazy to me. I promise that is so far down the list of what’s important in recruiting right now. 

    Definitely. People complain that Kenny Baker or other young coaches don’t have enough skins on the wall. Then when we hire Akina, who has so many skins he had to build an extension on his home, and people complain about his age. Plus his sideline energy is great and that’s infectious.

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    Redshirt

    bgreen04

    Supporters
    8 hours ago, HookedOnTF said:

    Very bearish take but even if he only goes 2 years and we bag a natty, who's going to complain? (That's rhetorical!)

    If he's feeling it for 4 years, that's a fair tenure for any assistant, and with some luck, we're contending for multiple titles.

    Your floor of a demotion in a year is highly unlikely. 

    Happy to be wrong, Akina has been a great coach for a long time but at the end of the day he's pushing 70 and at the end of his career. If he steps in an helps deliver another Natty then I will gladly eat crow. 

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    Freshman

    Tex-19

    Members
    14 hours ago, CJ Vogel said:

    The idea that Akina's age will cost Texas on the recruiting trail is crazy to me. I promise that is so far down the list of what’s important in recruiting right now. 

    Agree but will his age be an issue in coaching/developing? Everyone loses a step at some point in life. No idea if he's at that point or not.

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    • Lifetime Longhorn

    Hashtag

    Members
    1 minute ago, qaertyisthatdude said:

    Larry Johnson is 73 years old and just helped Ohio State's DL win a natty.

    Ohio St fans aren't happy with him and he just cost them one of the top DC's in the country.

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    • First Round Pick

    Oldest Horn

    Supporters
    35 minutes ago, Hashtag said:

    Ohio St fans aren't happy with him and he just cost them one of the top DC's in the country.

    Because he was 73?

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    • Lifetime Longhorn

    thatdude2

    Supporters
    14 hours ago, CJ Vogel said:

     

    My only issue is what did he do after 2013. I’m pumped about the hire, but if they would have hired Gerry(no shade at Gerry) I would have been pumped. 

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    • Lifetime Longhorn

    thatdude2

    Supporters
    2 hours ago, Tuco Ramirez said:

    Definitely. People complain that Kenny Baker or other young coaches don’t have enough skins on the wall. Then when we hire Akina, who has so many skins he had to build an extension on his home, and people complain about his age. Plus his sideline energy is great and that’s infectious.

    I want to know the skins outside of Texas.

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    • All-Conference

    HookedOnTF

    Supporters
    6 minutes ago, thatdude2 said:

    My only issue is what did he do after 2013. I’m pumped about the hire, but if they would have hired Gerry(no shade at Gerry) I would have been pumped. 

    While Gerry would kill it at any job, many peoole think he's holding out to replace buzz williams

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    Lifetime Longhorn

    TexasFanatic

    Supporters
    12 minutes ago, thatdude2 said:

    I want to know the skins outside of Texas.

    He developed 5/6 DBs at Stanford that are still on NFL rosters

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    Lifetime Longhorn

    thatdude2

    Supporters
    22 minutes ago, TexasFanatic said:

    He developed 5/6 DBs at Stanford that are still on NFL rosters

    Thank you 🙏🏾 

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    • Freshman

    Sharkdaddy

    Supporters

    THAT’S  F’N  AWESOME!!🐂🤘

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