Skip to main content
texas logo

Texas set to return 10 starters on offense in 2023

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•01/10/23•

josephcook89

On3 image
Texas offense (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

A look at Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship game makes it clear that experience is key. A glimpse at the top two teams in the Big 12, Kansas State and TCU, indicates that as well. In 2023, the Texas Longhorns could reap the benefits of experience by marching out a more veteran group on the offensive side of the ball.

[Get Inside Texas Plus until the start of the 2023 season for $29.99!]

With Christian Jones announcing his return to Texas on Tuesday, the Longhorns are likely to bring back 10 of 11 offensive starters for the 2023 season.

The lone loss from the starting lineup is a big one, with Bijan Robinson foregoing his senior season and entering the NFL draft. Similar goes for his back-up Roschon Johnson, whose departure will leave a leadership void that will need to be filled before Texas squares off with the Rice Owls on September 2.

Jonathon Brooks, Keilan Robinson, Cedric Baxter, and Jaydon Blue will be called upon to replace the production from the two featured backs in the Longhorn offense.

They’ll be running behind an offensive line that returns all five starters. From left to right, Kelvin Banks, Hayden Conner, Jake Majors, Cole Hutson, and Christian Jones started all 13 games this season. Plus, freshman DJ Campbell saw more and more opportunity along the interior of the offensive line as the season progressed, and fellow freshman Cam Williams was a starter on the Longhorns’ field goal unit.

Whoever replaces Johnson and Robinson is likely to line up in the backfield by Quinn Ewers, who has a clear path toward retaining the starting job after Hudson Card elected to transfer to Purdue. They’ll be a part of a skill position group that includes returning starters Ja’Tavion Sanders, Xavier Worthy, Jordan Whittington, and Casey Cain, plus Gunnar Helm, Brenen Thompson, Savion Red, and others arriving in Austin from Texas’ 2023 class.

According to the school, Texas hasn’t had 10 regular starters return on offense since 10 from the 2012 team returned for 2013, with the volume of heavy rotation during the 2017 season muddying the figure for the 2018 squad. Despite the multitude of off-field distractions during the 2013 season, the experienced team finished tied for second in the Big 12.

It’s no safe bet that all 10 returning starters are sure-fire picks to man the same position during the 2023 season. Banks, Whittington, Sanders, Worthy, and Ewers are not locks per se but a situation where competition overtakes any from that group seems unlikely. Jones probably doesn’t make his decision to return without believing he’ll have a spot on the 2023 O-line, but Kyle Flood could elect to put him somewhere other than right tackle. The same goes for Majors, Hutson, and Conner with regards to their respective roles.

Ten starters on offense returning doesn’t answer all the questions surrounding Steve Sarkisian’s area of expertise. Where does Isaiah Neyor, who was lost for the year in the preseason due to an ACL injury, factor into the wide receiver conversation? Will he join Worthy and Whittington in the top three, or will Cain take hold of that job? Who will replace Andrej Karic as the sixth offensive lineman/heavy tight end? Which vet could see a freshman from the 2022 or 2023 classes usurp their spot?

There are 235 days until Texas opens the 2023 regular season. Winter workouts, 15 spring practices, summer conditioning, and training camp all lie between Tuesday and the season-opener versus the Owls.

Whether all 10 starters remain in their role is something Sarkisian and company will have to sort out in the following seven-plus months. Those 10 starters coming back, however, provide a core group of returning experience on the offensive side of the ball not seen at Texas in a decade.

You may also like