Texas Longhorns' David Gbenda Details Post Game Speech Following Loss vs Georgia

Head coach Steve Sarkisian has described his team having multiple leaders within the locker room, and Gbenda has made himself a prominent voice.

Texas Longhorns linebacker David Gbenda (33) celebrates a win over Oklahoma Sooners 34-3 in the Red River Rivalry Football Game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the University of Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, TX on Saturday Oct. 12, 2024. / Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Throughout the season, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has preached about the amount of leaders he's seen on his team, being able to confidently say that multiple players take responsibility inside the locker room.

Following Saturday's hard-hitting loss to Georgia at home, a voice of reason was needed more than ever, and senior linebacker David Gbenda knew what he had to do.

"I just felt like it had to be said and message positivity. You know, this wasn't going to define our season," Gbenda said during Monday's media availability. "We left a lot out there. I just want the team to know that we still have everything in front of us [and] need to keep on working day in and day out."

Now underway in his sixth year at Texas, coming in as a freshman in 2019, Gbenda has witnessed first-hand the rigorous highs and lows of college football. He was there when the Longhorns went from a 8-5 record in his first year, to a 7-3 season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the underwhelming debut to the Steve Sarkisian era with a 5-7 finish in 2021.

Having faced those adversities throughout his career has helped him better understand what it takes to recover and reevaluate the rest of the season, according to Gbenda, especially with such a fresh squad that's eager to improve.

"It's helping a lot, because being in those tough situations, you learn a lot about people, and you learn a lot about your team. And I fully believe that this team is different," Gbenda said. "We're talented, and the sky is the limit for us. So going from the past to looking at it now, I just understand that this wasn't going to define our season. It's helped us to sort of formulate, sort of a plan, how to really bounce back and adjust, and areas to clean up and just help others and pick them up in different spots, as opposed to in the past whereas we're just experiencing that, trying to get up out that rut."

For the younger players taking the field, the matchup against Georgia was a relatively new experience, as it came as Texas' third loss in the past two seasons. Gbenda mentioned that while the underclassmen were hurting over the loss, he took it as a sign of how determined they are to maximize the team's full potential and saw an opportunity to use it as a teaching experience.

"Our job on the team is to just sort of let them know what it is and guide them. And they have been taking it really hard and they're just getting introduced into this culture and understanding what it takes. So them taking it hard is also a great sign, because that just shows how great of a team we want to be, just from the top down," Gbenda said. "We just got to show them the way, how to do anything on and off the field, and that's handling a situation like this and showing them how you handle this and how you sort of bounce back and adjust yourself."

Gbenda hopes to help his teammates have a major comeback against Vanderbilt this weekend as the Longhorns continue to stay prominent within the SEC, staying within the top five of the latest AP Poll.

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