Spring practice reveals key questions for Texas' offensive front

Last week, Texas football’s offensive and defensive lines got to battle it out in full pads for the first time as a 2025 roster, with both sides interacting in trench-based drills (and possibly warfare).

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Reports were positive on the defensive side of the ball. Travis Shaw was moving well, and Alex January looked better than expected against the run. Inside Texas’ very own Eric Nahlin’s sources had this to say about the offensive line:

“The O-line blocked hard and probably got the best of the D-line, but it wasn’t a big edge. It was even at times.”

This may be a bit of a contrast to what you’ve heard in past years from the Texas camp. With Jake Majors and Kelvin Banks consistently anchoring the Texas offense, it’s mostly been a question of the strength of the Longhorn defensive tackle room.

While it’s positive that Texas has a good feel on the DTs already, there will continue to be question marks surrounding this new offensive line until Texas takes the field against Ohio State in late August.

The Longhorns return just one starter, veteran guard DJ Campbell, but do have the grace of returning a former starting senior in Cole Hutson as well as fourth-year Neto Umeozulu. As noted in our most recent practice recap, the group is more veteran than you’d expect.

Those three will likely fill the interior of the offensive line, and fourth-year center Connor Robertson will be a respectable backup in case any of them fall to injury, with Hutson potentially kicking out to guard.

Tackle is a bit of a different story. Anyone following the Longhorns closely should know about the potential that Trevor Goosby possesses in his first year starting. You really can’t ask for a better replacement for Banks, but the right tackle position is very much up in the air.

The current competition is between sophomore Brandon Baker, a five-star, and redshirt sophomore Andre Cojoe, who has made big strides since he came to campus early. He is the better physical prospect than Baker, but Baker may be the more naturally talented player. There’s also Jaydon Chatman, another redshirt sophomore who seems to be fully focused on the tackle position when he’s not suiting up as a jumbo tight end.

As you might be able to tell from the tone of that paragraph, the tackle group is one filled with inexperience and uncertainty. Goosby played over 300 snaps last year, but the other three have combined for just 162 in their short careers.

This is the exact reason why offensive line is on the short list of potential transfer targets.

An offensive line is often only as good as its sixth man. At a position so physically demanding snap-to-snap, you have to have players waiting in the wings that are able to join a game at any moment and not be a liability. Last year the sixth and seventh mans of the Texas front, Hutson and Goosby, were fantastic.

This season, there’s a bit more concern over whether Cojoe and Robertson can replicate what Goosby and Hutson did. The profiles of the four are similar, former redshirted three-stars from the same class as their backup, but expecting Cojoe (or potentially Baker) to do what Goosby did last season in relief is foolhardy.

Texas will be monitoring the market for senior offensive tackles, especially ones with the ability to swing at guard. Texas has its foundation of long-term depth in place, Baker and potentially both of Umeozulu and Goosby could return next year, but the current depth problems are alarming.

Steve Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood were monitoring the position in the winter portal but ultimately didn’t take one. This pickup does not need to be flashy or expensive, but it needs to check a few boxes. Flood loves his big humans, and he’s not going to take on a profile that doesn’t have the size to compete in the SEC. He’ll also want versatility, a player that could play three spots on the line. That’s why you target veterans, especially from G5 schools, as those teams tend to need to move around positions more year-by-year. Of course, getting the top players is nice, but it comes with a heavy price tag and stiff competition from around the country.

This doesn’t feel like a true NEED the way that tight end does, as IT has written about before, but it’s just another step in building towards a national championship. Think of the spring portal as NFL free agency, used to reinforce positions and fill any needs the team identified in the offseason or from the season prior.

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Texas has not gone to the transfer portal for an O-lineman during Sarkisian’s tenure. But put yourself in the shoes of Sark and Flood: would you be comfortable starting Cojoe and Robertson in a College Football Playoff game if it came down to it? They’ll need to figure out the answer to that, as well as if they can find someone that they would prefer to add instead.