Rasheem Biles Means Even More to the Texas Defense With Ty'Anthony Smith Gone

The countdown for the Texas Longhorns 2026 season to begin is nearly in single-digit days now as the program is on the precipice of beginning a highly-anticipated journey to bring a national championship back to Austin.

With fall camp still underway and the Longhorns still getting an idea of what the team will look like this season, there has already been a massive change on defense after linebacker Ty'Anthony Smith was dismissed from the team.

While he wasn't a projected starter, he was expected to be a critical piece of the rotation, so how will his absence change the role of Rasheem Biles, the talented transfer linebacker expected to do it all for the Longhorns this season?

How Biles Role Changes

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian looks on in the first half against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

There is perhaps no one who enters the 2026 season with more hype surrounding them on the Longhorns roster than Biles, as he has continued to light up fall camp, creating havoc against the offense in every opportunity he gets.

Despite Smith's dismissal, Biles was slated to play alongside him, not in front of him, and now Justin Cryer will take over the middle linebacker position. More importantly for the Longhorns, the breakout from Cryer this fall camp and the staff's willingness to place him in the starting role speak volumes about their trust level in him entering the year.

What the confidence says, more importantly for Biles, though, is that the Longhorns are going to move him around and let him do what he does best: fly at whoever is holding the ball. He proved at Pitt that he is capable of that, finishing the 2025 season with 101 tackles and a mind-boggling 17 tackles for loss.

Biles can now be used to fly off the edge of the defense, with a combination of being used to contain quarterbacks capable of scrambling and the outside run. Perhaps more than that, though, Biles is a legitimate threat in the passing game, capable of providing elite coverage, and that will still need to be a factor this season.

There is an opportunity with Smith gone that Biles is used more in the middle of the box, but his role is to fly around and make plays, and despite losing a veteran of Smith's stature, Biles should still be the most effective linebacker on the roster.

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