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How Kyle Flood determines whether to put Cole Hutson or DJ Campbell at right guard

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•about 16 hours•

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Cole Hutson
Cole Hutson (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Even in the most important quarters of Texas’ football season, DJ Campbell and Cole Hutson rotated at right guard.

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Hutson, typically the Longhorns’ sixth O-lineman, was thrust into action versus Clemson due to injuries to Cam Williams and center Jake Majors. Against Arizona State, however, Hutson saw snaps at right guard in Campbell’s place without an injury necessitating the change.

In fact, late in the fourth quarter, Hutson was in at right guard as Texas twice tried to set up go-ahead or game-winning field goals for Bert Auburn. When regulation ended and the extra periods began, Campbell was back in the same place he started.

That continued what’s been both a season-long and three-year trend. This season, Campbell has 773 right guard snaps while Hutson has 274. Hutson saw 25 snaps of action against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and then 21 snaps versus Arizona State. He played 52 snaps versus Clemson, but 46 of those were at left guard in Hayden Conner‘s place once Conner had to move to center.

That’s a lot of mixing and matching, especially in key moments, at a position group where cohesion is key. So how does offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood decide when to put one player in or another?

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Flood joked.

“It’s really more of a feel thing for me, and the important thing for me is that they’re both in the rhythm of the game. I generally try to make sure Cole gets in during the first half so he’s ready to go at whatever point or however that combination of guys ends up playing.

“Cole ended up playing through the fourth quarter (versus Arizona State), then DJ came back in and played the overtime. It’s really more of a feel thing for me, but the important thing is that they’re both in the flow of the game so that if something happens in the middle, they’re both ready to play.”

This is a continuation of a practice that started during the 2022 season. Hutson began the year as the starting right guard but started trading opportunities with Campbell toward the end of the year. The two traded chances last year, but Campbell took more snaps after Hutson suffered an injury early in the season.

In his career, Hutson has 1185 snaps at right guard while Campbell has taken 1767.

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And while Campbell isn’t likely to leave the starting lineup in the next one or two games, Hutson is going to get his chances at right guard as well.

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