Texas Football: Are the freshmen O-linemen 'tough, smart, and dependable' enough to start?

When DJ Campbell became the seventh offensive lineman in Texas’ 2022 class, one of the main questions for the Longhorns entering Steve Sarkisian’s second year shifted from “will any freshman O-lineman play” to “how many freshman O-linemen will play?”

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Campbell, the No. 12 overall prospect in the 2022 On3 Consensus, ranked seven spots ahead of classmate Kelvin Banks. That duo represented the top players at their respective positions of interior offensive lineman and offensive tackle. Two more top 300 O-linemen in the On3 Consensus, Cam Williams and Neto Umeozulu, were part of the group Sarkisian and Flood signed. So were Connor Robertson, Malik Agbo, and early-enrollee Cole Hutson.

From last year’s O-line, Derek Kerstetter, Denzel Okafor, and Tope Imade exhausted their eligibility. That trio accounted for nearly 40 percent of the starts on the line in 2021. Two starters, Christian Jones and Jake Majors are back for 2022 and trying to keep their spot. Junior Angilau, the third returning starter, could be out for the year.

All of that math creates the new, complex equation Sarkisian and Flood will need to answer in determining who the first five on the field will be, and how many of those five will be from the freshman ranks.

“Ultimately, the head coach has the final say on all of that,” Flood said August 2. “But do I think we have a talented freshman class? I do. Do I think some of those guys are going to be able to contribute this year? I do. To what level? They’re going to determine that.”

In the current era of college football, coaches aspire to have a group of 7-8 linemen they believe can play when the lights come on. Five are the starters, plus the handful of backups who offer versatility or were just beat out by a better player. Though there might be a strong focus on paper depth charts, there is a lot that goes into putting the best group on the field.

“I think the best way we try to talk to the guys about it is we want to play the best five players up front, and the last thing I would want to do is have five guys starting but my third best lineman isn’t on the field because he’s a backup tackle,” Sarkisian said August 11. “He would be our starting guard if he played guard. We try to explain it really well.”

Seven of the 16 scholarship offensive linemen being freshman does help the chances of at least one seeing the field, but there’s a better formula Flood has for figuring out who needs to be in the first five.

“I like ‘em tough, smart, and dependable,” Flood said. “There’s a physical toughness aspect to the position that you can’t deny and you can’t hide from. You have to know what to do, how to do it, and why it’s important to do it that way. You’ve got to be dependable. There’s nothing more valuable in life than consistency.”

“I put those three words up on the board every training camp in the O-line room because I want all the players in the room to really know what the expectations are. The faster the freshmen, the younger players – not necessarily just the first-year guys – can get to those three spaces, then I think the faster they can contribute.”

Flood and Sarkisian entered training camp with more data about not just the freshman O-linemen, but the entire Longhorn roster. Coaches were able to spend up to two hours per week with players for skill training with a football. Both Sarkisian and Flood noted improvement from the entire group after they utilized the available time to work on fundamentals, techniques, calls, and other aspects of offensive line play.

Practice time for the players wasn’t limited to those two hours a week, that’s just all they could do with the coaches present. Players held their own “optional” periods outside of the mandatory two hour periods and any other off-season conditioning sessions.

In both those training sessions and in the early stages of camp, those freshmen O-linemen made impressions on several current players. Big impressions.

“They’re big,” DeMarvion Overshown said on August 4. He eventually commented, “they’re going to be the real deal.”

Said Bijan Robinson: “I see the freshman trying to learn and do the best that they can, so it makes the big guys want to be coached up some more and learn some more so they can understand the game as well and become that much better.”

After the first week of camp, Sarkisian mentioned Williams, Banks, Campbell, and Hutson by name, saying that though they weren’t perfect, they looked “comfortable.”

Two freshmen earned special callouts from coaches and peers alike. During his answer about playing the five best offensive linemen, Sarkisian said Campbell could fit at tackle down the road but was making progress at one of the interior spots.

“He’s playing guard for us, and he’s going to be a heck of a player,” Sarkisian said August 11. “That’s not saying that before his career is done at Texas, that he’s not going to end up being a tackle. But an opportunity for him early, to potentially get himself on the field, guard may be a better spot.”

One of the current team leaders had positive things to say about another highly-touted prospect.

“Kelvin Banks, he’s a really good player,” Jordan Whittington said on August 9. “He’s a leader. Really vocal, really high football IQ.”

Do players like Banks, Campbell, or Hutson break into the starting five for Louisiana-Monroe? Are they tough, smart, and dependable enough to play in year one? Hutson is already garnering some first-string reps at guard and could be on his way to being the first from the 2022 class to solidify a spot in the starting lineup, especially after Angilau’s injury.

Campbell, though rated as an interior lineman, has the capability to play tackle. Could that happen later in his career, a la Evan Neal at Alabama? Sarkisian hinted as much.

However, necessity almost always wins out. Texas needs a strong left tackle, and with Jones manning the right tackle spot these days, the competition for left tackle includes Andrej Karic and Jaylen Garth, plus five-star freshman Banks. Though Banks could function on the inside, his immense talent could have him protecting the blindside in game one.

Is it tough to do that for a freshman? Of course, but it’s doable. There are countless examples, including a few at Texas like Kerstetter, Connor Williams, and Zach Shackelford. There are examples in Flood’s and Sarkisian’s past, with Neal the most notable. Sarkisian even played some first-year linemen in his short stint at USC. There are pitfalls to the approach as well, innumerable in college football.

Texas has talented O-linemen in its freshman class. Are they tough, smart, and dependable enough for Flood and Sarkisian to march them out in game one? That was a possibility from the moment seven joined the program, and as camp has progressed, it appears more and more likely.