71 days until Texas Football: Payton Kirkland looks for snaps in midst of progress made in one semester at Texas
Inside Texas is putting a new twist on long-time photographer Will Gallagher’s time-honored countdown to Texas football kickoff. In addition to Will’s great pictures, the Inside Texas staff will go through every player on the roster by jersey number and offer a season outlook on each, from five-star to walk-on.
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We’ll also look back at other greats to wear that day’s number, with special reverence to some of Texas’ best.
Today is 71 days until kickoff. No. 71 for the Longhorns this season will be worn by Payton Kirkland, a true freshman offensive lineman.
Payton Kirkland season outlook
Kirkland committed to Texas before visiting and became one of the strongest recruiters for Steve Sarkisian, Kyle Flood, and others from 1000 miles away. He zoomed to the second-string left tackle spot in spring as part of work done to transform a frame that had a significant amount of weight.
Kirkland is a versatile player who doesn’t mind the idea of playing all five spots on the offensive line, but his first opportunity will be at tackle. Whether he redshirts or not remains to be seen, but work reshaping his body is priority No. 1 for the Orlando product.
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One month ago, Kirkland spoke about his first-semester experience at Texas.
“I know how I like to feel when I’m playing football. And (the Texas coaching staff) agreed with my decision. They told me when I came in, you got to do what you got to do. I feel like that was probably one of the biggest things that I felt that they appreciated about me was that I came in ready to work and I knew what I had to work on.”
Payton Kirkland as a recruit
Kirkland was ranked as the No. 532 overall prospect, the No. 30 offensive tackle, and the No. 92 player in Florida in the 2023 On3 Industry Ranking.
Notable player to wear No. 71: Chris Hall
Hall played in 45 games, starting 37, during his five-year career at Texas. He started at least one game at all five positions along the offensive line in 2007 before settling in at center for 2008 and ’09.
Hall was a Rimington Trophy finalist (nation’s top center) and a four-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree and a five-time member of UT’s Athletics Director’s Honor Roll.
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All-Americans to wear No. 71
Leo Brooks, DT, 1969
Chris Hall, OL, 2009
Joe Cook co-authored this article
