Blake Gideon replacements: Insider names 3 candidates who could take over Texas coaching job ft. Mike Mickens

The Texas Longhorns will have to find a new safety coach after Blake Gideon was hired as Georgia Tech's defensive coordinator. Gideon was Texas' safety coach from 2021 until 2024.

Gideon played college football at Texas from 2008 until 2011 as a safety and went undrafted in the 2012 NFL draft. However, he ended up playing two years in the NFL before turning to coaching.

After Gideon left Texas, college football reporter Anwar Richardson reported Texas was looking at three candidates to replace him.

The top candidate is Notre Dame's defensive backs coach Mike Mickens, according to Richardson. Mickens is the Fighting Irish's defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator and has been with them since 2020. He played college football at Cincinnati before bouncing around NFL practice squads and then getting into coaching.

Cory Sanders is another candidate to replace Blake Gideon as Texas' safety coach. He is currently the safeties coach and assistant head coach at Pitt, a role he has had for one season, but was the safeties coach from 2018 until 2023 before adding assistant head coach to his title.

Sanders was the head coach for Saint Joseph's College in Collegeville, Indiana, from 2011 to 2014 going 23-18. He played college football at Saint Joseph's which led to him getting the coaching job. He has also been West Florida's defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator and Western Michigan's defensive backs coach.

The final candidate is Rutgers' cornerback coach Mark Orphey. He has been at Rutgers since 2022 as he was hired from Alabama where he was a player personnel analyst.

Orphey spent one season as the secondary coach at Utah State, one season as the cornerbacks coach at both Montana State and Utah State, and two years as the secondary coach at Montana State. He also worked as a graduate assistant at South Carolina and has risen through the coaching levels.