Texas special teams got a rare highlight moment with blocked punt vs. Missouri

On Saturday, Jeff Banks had a chance to celebrate with his special teams instead of trying to manage a catastrophe after it happened.

In a season plagued with high-profile mistakes that raised questions about the job security of the longtime Texas Longhorns special teams coordinator, the blocked punt by sophomore nickel back Jonathan Cunningham in the second quarter of the 34-20 win over the Missouri Tigers provided a flash of why opposing coaches always speak so highly of Banks.

The punt block call put the Missouri protection in a difficult position — with Longhorns freshmen Jermaine Bishop and Kohen Brown overloading the right side of the protection, the Tigers could alert and move the gunner inside to block, but with the need for Missouri to kick towards a sideline to limit the threat of star Texas punt returner Ryan Niblett, that’s a dangerous proposition if the direction is predetermined without a check at the line of scrimmage.

Instead, it’s the responsibility of the punter to get the ball off in time to avoid the speed off the edge. And that’s a lot of speed coming for the Horns because Brown ran a sub-10.7 100-meter as a junior.

Both players have earned trust from Banks with Brown ranking third in total special teams snaps and Bishop slotting sixth.

As the interior rusher, Brown demonstrated why Banks trusts him — there’s a real risk of roughing the passer on punt block calls, but Brown took a conservative angle to avoid contact that nonetheless forced Missouri punter Brunno Reus to get too close to the line of scrimmage, allowing the interior rush to get home.

On that interior rush was Cunningham, another core special teams contributor who signed with Texas in the 2025 class as a tweener prospect. The consensus three-star prospect prospect was classified as a linebacker, but needed to gain significant weight to play the position, contributing to his ranking just inside the top-500 prospects nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings.

As a second-year player for the Longhorns, Cunningham is listed at 198 pounds, only slightly heavier than his high school playing weight, and is buried on the depth chart at the nickel position, playing just 23 snaps on defense this season, almost entirely in blowouts.

But with more scholarships available now, rostering reliable special teams contributors like Cunningham is easily accomplished, and he proved why on the first punt block by Texas since the Red River Rivalry in 2023 by slicing past the deep snapper and taking advantage of a poor angle by the right side of the shield, linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr., a fifth-year player with almost 200 career special teams snaps, mostly on punt coverage the last two seasons.

Perhaps concerned about an outside rusher, Woodyard made the same critical mistake that got Texas senior linebacker Justin Cryer removed from the same role despite plenty of similar experience when he allowed the blocked punt touchdown that started Oklahoma’s comeback last month.

With Woodyard only able to deliver a glancing blow to Cunningham’s outside shoulder, the sophomore blocked the punt.

Starting its drive at the 39-yard line, the Texas offense wasn’t able to fully play complementary football when a designed run by quarterback Arch Manning and an ineffective scramble put the Longhorns in a 3rd and 11 that led to head coach Steve Sarkisian making an unusually conservative decision by kicking a field goal on 4th and 1 from the 19-yard line after a 10-yard reception by tight end Michael Masunas to tie the game at 10-10.

Overall, the Texas special teams somehow rank 24th nationally in ESPN’s SP+ rankings, likely bolstered to a significant degree by the exceptional efficiency of place kicker Gianni Spetic, but despite all the disappointing aspects of how Banks has coordinated the special teams this season, Niblett’s quality puts opposing punt coverage units in difficult situations when the Longhorns show pressure.