Texas O-line talk

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Longhorns head into 2022 season primed for an offensive line youth movement

By  JEFF HOWE      7 hours ago

Quote

AUSTIN, Texas — After declaring Quinn Ewers the winner of a long-running quarterback competition with Hudson Card on Aug. 19, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian met with reporters three days later to discuss why he and the staff decided to go with the redshirt freshman transfer over the third-year sophomore who started the 2021 season opener for the Longhorns. There are plenty of areas where Ewers has room to grow, but the ability of the No. 1 overall prospect in the Top247 for 2021 “to make all [of] the throws in our system" and give everyone in the program a sense of belief in his ability to get the job done outweighed the question marks, including inexperience.

The first pass Ewers throws in the opener against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday (7 p.m., Longhorn Network) will be the first of his collegiate career. While Ewers is short on experience, he’s got more than what a few of the linemen who will be charged with keeping him upright possess.

Youth in two critical areas, including Texas on the cusp of going through the rare event of starting two true freshmen up front in a season opener, is why Sarkisian knows a talented Texas squad is going to experience growing pains.

“Not only are we relatively young at quarterback, we're a relatively young team,” Sarkisian said. “We've got to do a really good job as a staff of trying to put our players in a position to learn from the tough situations. We try to do that in practice, we try to do that and scrimmages. We'll spot the ball on our own 1-yard line: How are you going to play in your own end zone? We're going to put them in situations where it's a potential four-down territory, where it's third down and play yourself into fourth down. I don't expect them to get it exactly right the first time, but as many of those situations as I can put him in and our team in, hopefully, the better we respond in-game when they present themselves.”

Simulated situations can only go so far to get an inexperienced quarterback ready for what he’s going to face when the lights come on and things get real, but Ewers’ exposure to dressing out for Ohio State's games last season and logging two snaps after graduating from Southlake Carroll early and reclassifying to get to Columbus last August trumps what Kelvin Banks, DJ Campbell, Cole Hutson and the rest of the historic 2022 offensive line haul put together by Sarkisian and Kyle Flood brings to the table.

The practice of playing true freshmen along the offensive line occurs when there are either no other viable options or when the newcomers are simply better than the veterans on the current roster. Unfortunately, Texas has dealt with the simultaneous occurrence of both situations far too often for nearly two decades and the same is true of the upcoming season.

The Longhorns didn’t start a single true freshman offensive lineman from 1992, which is as far back as the program’s documented records for game-by-game starters can be found online, through the end of the 2007 regular season. A period of time that covers Blake Brockermeyer starting at right tackle as a redshirt freshman in the first game of the John Mackovic era (a 28-10 loss to Mississippi State) through an untimely injury that ended Tony Hills’ career (a broken fibula in a 59-43 win over Texas Tech on Nov. 10, 2007) saw Texas produce 11 NFL draft picks (three first-round selections) with 13 Longhorns claiming All-American honors in that stretch.

The program's offensive line woes came to a head when Williams was one of two true freshmen in the starting lineup to open the 2015 season. 

Kyle Hix started at right tackle for a 52-34 Holiday Bowl romp over Arizona State to close out the 2007 season, becoming the first true freshman offensive lineman in recorded school history to draw a starting assignment. In the intervening 14 seasons, 10 different true freshmen offensive linemen started at least one game with the Longhorns using more than one true freshman in the starting lineup to get through the 2015 and 2020 seasons.

The toxic concoction of questionable evaluations in recruiting, poor player development and instability within the coaching staff that led to frequent scheme changes and unexpected attrition boiled over in the 2015 season opener. On a night where Texas was overwhelmed by Notre Dame in a 38-3 road loss, the Longhorns started Patrick Vahe at right guard and Connor Williams at left tackle, marking the first time in recorded school history that one, let alone two true freshmen offensive linemen started an opener.

Of the 10 blue-chip (247Sports Composite five-star and four-star prospects) high school offensive linemen Texas recruited in the four cycles before Vahe and Williams made it to campus (2011-2014), only three were members of the program in 2015 with two of them (Sedrick Flowers and Kent Perkins) starting alongside the rookies against the Irish. With the Longhorns expected to repeat the feat seven years later with Banks (left tackle) and either Campbell or Hutson (right guard), a season-ending knee injury suffered by 34-game starter Junior Angilau in the team’s first camp scrimmage and redshirt sophomore Jaylen Garth entering the NCAA transfer portal on Aug. 23, only three of the 10 blue-chip linemen Texas landed over the four previous recruiting cycles (2018-2021) are active members of the current roster and only junior center Jake Majors appears to be a lock to start against the Warhawks.

Before the ink was dry on the paperwork the eight-man offensive line class collectively signed in the most recently-completed talent acquisition cycle, it felt like a matter of when rather than if the Longhorns would experience a youth movement in the trenches. It didn’t take long into the preseason to establish what those inside the program expressed throughout the summer, which is that Flood’s first full cycle on the job produced a group of linemen who are going to play because they’re simply better than what returns in some areas from a 5-7 campaign in 2021.

The Longhorns signed seven blue-chip recruits in the trenches in 2022, the most by the program in any recruiting cycle since in the modern era of recruiting (the 247Sports Composite retroactively ranks recruits starting with the 2000 class). Along with Banks, Campbell and Hutson, the significant workloads Neto Umeozulu and Cameron Williams had throughout camp and leading up to game week means five of the six blue-chippers could get on the field against Louisiana-Monroe, but those five aren't the only youngsters in the trenches who've made progress throughout the preseason.

Banks has looked every bit the part of the five-star prospect he's been billed to be throughout the preseason. 

Headlining the group is Banks, the No. 30 overall prospect in the Top247 for 2022, whose ascension up the depth chart is a surprise only because of how quickly he’s asserted himself. The accelerated development was evident when viewing the team's Aug. 16 open practice at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, a session in which Banks took all of the snaps with the No. 1 offense over Andrej Karic at left tackle and when asked on Aug. 18 for his camp impressions of the 6-foot-5-inch, 318-pound Humble Summer Creek product, Sarkisian laid out exactly why the future might be now for Texas at the position foremost charged with protecting Ewers’ blind side.

“He's a very mature young man,” Sarkisian said of Banks, who's been working his way back from an ankle injury suffered in the team’s second camp scrimmage. “He's very steady and consistent in his style of play, but his demeanor, I think, helps him at left tackle. He's very calm, but yet he has a physical nature about him and finishes people.”

Connor Williams was a Freshman All-American left tackle with Samuel Cosmi earning the same recognition as a redshirt freshman right tackle in 2018, so the Forty Acres isn't immune to future NFL tackles quickly bursting onto the scene. Banks rapidly rounding into form as a viable starting option at left tackle, Sarkisian said at his most recent media availability prior to Monday's news conference, has allowed the Longhorns to manufacture much-needed depth.

“I think that's given us a lot of flexibility with Andrej and utilizing him,” Sarkisian said with Karic potentially able to compete with Christian Jones for snaps at right tackle and provide depth along with Hutson, Campbell and true sophomore Hayden Conner on the interior. “I think Cole Hutson has done a nice job emerging as well, so I feel comfortable up front.”

With an injury preventing Hutson from stepping right into Angilau’s spot right away (Hutson returned to practice last Monday after missing the week of practice between the two camp scrimmages), Campbell got plenty of work with the first group. The 6-foot-3-inch, 321-pound Campbell (No. 23 in the Top247 for 2022) was viewed as arguably the best plug-and-play option among the signees.

When the Longhorns kick off Sarkisian’s second season in six days, Campbell figures to get a chance to prove those notions correct.

“Physically gifted,” Sarkisian said of the five-star Arlington Bowie product. “Long arms, will strike you, tough. It’s all the consistency in his game that we're working on right now — fundamentals and techniques, all of those types of things, but he's [made an] an impact.”

Hutson, the 6-foot-5-inch, 303-pound spring enrollee out of Frisco High, could ultimately fill the two roles vacated by Angilau’s absence. He’s obviously in the mix at right guard and as the backup center, a position where there’s currently no viable option behind Majors.

Huston could provide depth at guard and center for the Longhorns in 2022.

Hutson and 6-foot-7-inch, 374-pound Cameron Williams round out the group of four true freshmen offensive linemen who stood out to Sarkisian throughout camp. It’s also worth mentioning that Sarkisian has mentioned Connor Robertson (6-4, 298) and Malik Agbo (6-6, 337) logging quality snaps with Robertson in the center mix along with Hutson and Logan Parr, meaning there are on and off-the-record comments to show the entire class moved the needle in some way, shape or form entering the week of the opener by making the most of their opportunities.

"Obviously, a couple of unfortunate injuries after that first scrimmage with (wide receiver) Isaiah Neyor (season-ending knee injury) and Junior Angilau, but with that, I think our guys really responded, and different guys have stepped up to replace those voids," Sarkisian said on Monday as he recapped the weeks leading up to the opener. "The reality of it is, injuries occur in football. You never know when they happen and that's that whole next-man-up mentality that has got to be in place across the board."

The current crop of newcomers feels like a group capable of bringing long-awaited stability to the line of scrimmage. Bijan Robinson is among those excited about what the new faces up front can do with the All-American candidate's mentorship of those expected to provide the junior running back room to run important as the group gets their feet wet.

"The two who we have as freshmen who are starting on the line right now, I'm really comfortable with them being up there," Robinson said on Monday, noting that Banks and Huston are the two who've been working the most with the No. 1 offense of late. "Those dudes are obviously big, but they're smart and they just want to maul people. I told them, 'just doesn't understand what you've got to do and if you need help, I can give you that information.'

"If worse comes to worst, just maul the dude," he added when describing the kind of guidance he's given Banks and Hutson. "A little second and we're gone. I think they're pretty comfortable in what they've got and how they're learning and their teaching progressions. They understand what they've got to do to become who they want to become one day."

If a few members of the group pan out and the unit can collectively take off, it would be a nice change of practice from an era of offensive line recruiting that left a lot to be desired.

Texas signed 42 blue-chip offensive line prospects over a span of 18 recruiting classes (2004-2021) before securing the backbone of a 2022 class 247Sports ranked as the nation’s fifth-best haul. The group of 41 high school recruits and one junior college signee has yet to produce an NFL draft pick and with only Angilau, Karic, Majors and Parr remaining on the roster in the wake of Garth’s departure, the Longhorns are running out of chances to mold even one draft choice from a group of players recruited by six different offensive line coaches, five of whom came to Texas between the retirement of Mac McWhorter after the 2010 season and Flood making the move from Tuscaloosa to Austin with Sarkisian.

With so many young Longhorns expected to garner a healthy amount of high-leverage snaps in the trenches, bumps in the road should be expected. Similar to the ebbs and flows a young quarterback like Ewers is bound to go through, however, the hope is that those inexperienced pieces will grow to the point that the emphasis on getting bigger up front and completely revamping the makeup of the offensive line room ultimately leads to a better product on the field and one that has Texas trending in the right direction heading into 2023.

"I feel like we're bigger, especially up front on the offensive side of the ball," Sarkisian said of the positive ways in which the program has evolved throughout the offseason with 35 new scholarship players in the fold, including the young linemen. "That was a huge point of emphasis of ours, that we got bigger, just naturally up front."

 

[LTtxfan 50,003]

 

[Atticus 4,216]

Best OL coach we've had since I started following UT football. We are gonna have an elite OL in a couple of years if we keep this guy around.

[LTtxfan 50,003]

 

[LTtxfan 50,003]

 

[LTtxfan 50,003]

 

[Reese Bennett 3,663]

On 8/30/2022 at 9:19 AM, LTtxfan said:

 

Yeah, I trust this guy. Great stuff.

[GoldAppleCorps 630]

Ordinarily, starting true freshmen on the OL is a sign of desperation and usually ends poorly.

These aren't normal freshmen, and Kyle Flood had all summer to demonstrate his way. For such a large, violent position, success depends on hand placement, keeping your feet in contact with the earth as much as possible, and keeping your mass over your base. The only way to do these things in a game is to practice them until they become habits. There just isn't enough time during the week in season to correct bad fundamentals.

Offensive lines don't earn praise for practice. They earn it when they go against an angry defensive unit that doesn't care if Quinn Ewers gets hurt.

[Coach pop a bitch 6,019]

 

[Sal 1,108]

1 hour ago, Coach pop a bitch said:

 

Conner too

[futureman 22,699]

"created by"

1 minute ago, Sal said:

Conner too

banks was holding and conner didn't touch a soul.

[Sal 1,108]

12 minutes ago, futureman said:

"created by"

banks was holding and conner didn't touch a soul.

Right, that’s the joke

[pacman 7,507]

Few tidbits from pff

Jones, Helm gave up sacks.

Hutson gave up a hit and two hurries, for three pressures in total. Struggled all night in every facet except gap run blocking (63.4).

Yet, the team averaged almost 12 yards per carry(5 carries) running behind the rg. Between the c and LG was the next highest at 6.8 yards (4 carries). Our bed are really good, when they get running upfield, is my take away there.

Banks scored an 85.9 in pass blocking, top 15 in the nation. He did really well with zone run blocking(74.8) but struggled some with gap (56.8).

Cam, Neto, Malik, and DJ saw 3 plays each, nothing noteworthy.

Robertson was your backup center and graded out 9 points higher than Majors.

Parr graded well with the backups. Seems either he or DJ(very small sample size) were more ready to compete than Hutson.

Majors scored in the bottom 15% of all centers graded this weekend. Only backups from wvu and ou showed worse in the big 12, not their starters.

Karic is still an abysmal run blocker, good pass blocking though.I

*take pff's college grading with a grain of salt

 

[HenryJames 67,358]

6 minutes ago, pacman said:

*take pff's college grading with a grain of salt

[RabidM 2,757]

I was in row 2 behind the bench. The true frosh offensive line class is ginormous. It's so hard to believe they're true freshman.  When they're all walking at the same time, it must measure on the ricther scale.  None of them looks sloppy fat though.  Even Cam Williams holds his weight well.  Everyone loved the class on paper, and for good reason.  I think this class will produce at least 4 NFL players. 

[squeegeedegg 730]

Majors needs to be replaced asap

[HtownHorn 15,236]

The only thing I thought was interesting was Jones bascially playing the entire game. I thought when they went to the 2nd string OL, Williams would get some playing time.

I think the battle at RG between Campbell and Hutson should be a good one in the back half of the season.

[Had Enough 2,116]

Majors needs to be replaced asap

With what?

[bigcigar 1,224]

30 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

With what?

A backup from another big 12 school it looks like 

[Burt Macklin 19,230]

3 hours ago, squeegeedegg said:

Majors needs to be replaced asap

Unfortunately Angilau going down kind of killed that option. 

[Codaxx 6,253]

3 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

The only thing I thought was interesting was Jones bascially playing the entire game. I thought when they went to the 2nd string OL, Williams would get some playing time.

I think the battle at RG between Campbell and Hutson should be a good one in the back half of the season.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Banks, Conner, Majors, Jones, and Williams as the starting 5. And put everything into developing Campbell at center with the hope he could be an option later in the year

[RabidM 2,757]

If Campbell can win RG, Hutson might be able to slide down to center.  Honestly, our best 5 likely involves 4 true freshman and 1 true sophomore.  That hurts to even type. 

[Codaxx 6,253]

14 minutes ago, RabidM said:

If Campbell can win RG, Hutson might be able to slide down to center.  Honestly, our best 5 likely involves 4 true freshman and 1 true sophomore.  That hurts to even type. 

Hutson was arguably the worst OL on Saturday. Majors at least can make the line calls, if you are moving him out it should be for a definite upgrade. I am not sure Hutson is a definite upgrade 

[BurntOrange&White 41,859]

16 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Hutson was arguably the worst OL on Saturday. Majors at least can make the line calls, if you are moving him out it should be for a definite upgrade. I am not sure Hutson is a definite upgrade 

When Angilau was at center Conner was making the calls.....so point is moot.

[Codaxx 6,253]

2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

When Angilau was at center Conner was making the calls.....so point is moot.

The point that he may not be an upgrade is certainly not moot. He struggled at guard vs ULM, that gives me 0 confidence he will do better at center 

[BurntOrange&White 41,859]

Just now, Codaxx said:

The point that he may not be an upgrade is certainly not moot. He struggled at guard vs ULM, that gives me 0 confidence he will do better at center 

I'd be interested to see how he looks if he had better people around him...

[Sawbonz 28,220]

12 hours ago, pacman said:

take pff's college grading with a grain of salt

Aren’t they the site that had Trevon Diggs ranked as one of the worst CBs in the NFL last year?

[Hookem2147 22,033]

12 hours ago, pacman said:

Karic is still an abysmal run blocker, good pass blocking though.I

This doesn’t match up with how he’s been prior to this year. He’s been pretty poor in pass pro his whole career.

[Hookem2147 22,033]

Right now our interior OL goes (left to right): sophomore- redshirt sophomore- freshman

Campbell is going to factor in there at some point (maybe it’s not til later this year or next spring but it’s coming). Someone is going to get squeezed out. Maybe if he’s ready at some point this year you have him battle it out with Hutson at guard.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Hookem2147

[RabidM 2,757]

1 hour ago, Codaxx said:

Hutson was arguably the worst OL on Saturday. Majors at least can make the line calls, if you are moving him out it should be for a definite upgrade. I am not sure Hutson is a definite upgrade 

It was Hutson's first ever game.  He will almost certainly improve.  Majors is likely close to maxed out and has a couple years experience.  The odds of him improving significantly is probably pretty minimal at this point.  As someone mentioned, Conner can make the line calls as he was doing that for Junior before the injury. 

[HtownHorn 15,236]

3 hours ago, Codaxx said:

I wouldn’t mind seeing Banks, Conner, Majors, Jones, and Williams as the starting 5. And put everything into developing Campbell at center with the hope he could be an option later in the year

Robertson is the guy that they like at C. Maybe Hutson as well, but it's pretty apparent the 2022 class + Conner is the depth chart after this season. I also thought it was interesting that Karic played TE in some packages. Probably due to Billingsley being out 6 games.

Edited September 5, 2022 by HtownHorn

[Longhornlove 5,209]

O-Line did a damn good job of passing off defenders during stunts and twists, something they have struggled with over the years.

[Codaxx 6,253]

8 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

Robertson is the guy that they like at C. Maybe Hutson as well, but it's pretty apparent the 2022 class + Conner is the depth chart after this season. I also thought it was interesting that Karic played TE in some packages. Probably due to Billingsley being out 6 games.

Agree on the 22 class. The issue is the next couple weeks. It is a bit scary going into a game like Bama with your center and guard struggling vs ULM. That could get Ewers killed 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Codaxx

[Texasrocks 2,253]

23 hours ago, pacman said:

Robertson was your backup center and graded out 9 points higher than Majors.

Majors scored in the bottom 15% of all centers graded this weekend. Only backups from wvu and ou showed worse in the big 12, not their starters.

 

PFF went full retard. Majors was MUCH better than Robertson. Majors' worst play was missing a stunt, but the ball was out before the defender could get to Ewers. He also ended up on his face when he reached for a defender and the guy side-stepped him while yanking his pads. He basically did a belly flop on the field, but he was 15 yards from the ball. He looked lost at the second level at times, but that was 10 yards down field. Otherwise he had a good game. Robertson went back and forth between looking great and getting beat.

[Longhornlove 5,209]

8 minutes ago, Texasrocks said:

PFF went full retard. Majors was MUCH better than Robertson. Majors' worst play was missing a stunt, but the ball was out before the defender could get to Ewers. He also ended up on his face when he reached for a defender and the guy side-stepped him while yanking his pads. He basically did a belly flop on the field, but he was 15 yards from the ball. He looked lost at the second level at times, but that was 10 yards down field. Otherwise he had a good game. Robertson went back and forth between looking great and getting beat.

This, I've rewatched all offensive plays twice. Majors played a good game. PFF can fuck off. I watched the tape and my eyes aren't lying to me. People just love to hate Majors. Hutson was the biggest hole on the offensive line and it isn't even close.

As far as PFF goes, they graded Overshown out at a 12. He was clearly one of the most active and best players on the defense.

[LTtxfan 50,003]

Scipio Tex  aka Paul Wadlington  9/5/2022

Texas-ULM Post Mortem:   OL

Kelvin Banks has special feet for a 18 year old big guy and you can tell he takes football seriously. I only imagine what he can be once he gets strong and 20 starts under his belt. He and Hayden Conner did a nice job passing off stunts and slants to each other, albeit against weak competition. Jake Majors was alright but he’s no stronger now on the field than he was as a true freshman. 3rd year player. There’s no shock at contact. Cole Hutson showed good aggression, though he did give up the primary pressure that flushed Ewers into a sack. Hutson did a good job of sealing defenders on double teams a couple of times. A lot of guards want to drive the defender, but that often allows disengagement. Blocking him off and turning him is more valuable and an easy visual cue for the RB. HEY, CUT HERE. You’ll see a good example of that on the Jonothan Brooks TD. Christian Jones had some good run blocks and held up as a Big 12 average right tackle. He may be overplaying the inside move given his struggles there and gave up some pressure on a couple of pass rushes that he should have driven past the QB by five yards. He also surrendered a sack on Card while in a double team with Gunnar Helm. That’s a weird deal that happens more often than you’d think as both blockers essentially get in each other’s way and neither declares definitively who has inside/outside.

All in all, this group looked decently cohesive and focused, but ULM lacks the athletes to test much outside of gross incompetence.

 

[LTtxfan 50,003]

https://www.on3.com/news/true-freshmen-college-football-week-1-malaki-starks-raleek-brown-barion-brown-kelvin-banks/ 

True freshmen standouts from Week 1 of college football

Charles Power•about 11 hours

OT Kelvin Banks – Texas

Texas signed the nation’s top offensive line class in the 2022 cycle. Kelvin Banks looks like the gem of the group early on. The true freshman started at left tackle in the Longhorns’ opening win over UL-Monroe. Banks was Texas’ best offensive lineman on the day, surrendering zero sacks, hits or pressures in 26 pass blocking attempts, according to Pro Football Focus. The Humble (Texas) Summer Creek product also opened a crease on a touchdown run in the second quarter.

It’s early, but Banks has shown the skill set that made him an On3 Consensus five-star in addition to the No. 6 overall prospect and top offensive tackle in the On300. The 6-foot-4, 320-pounder is a flexible, coordinated presence on Quinn Ewers‘ blindside. He faces a trial by fire next week with Alabama’s daunting group of pass rushers that includes Will Anderson and Dallas Turner making their way to Austin.

[SKA the boss 729]

Just did a rewatch. Hutson would definitely benefit from a redshirt year based on that game’s performance, but I’m sure the staff wants the young guys to learn fast and on the fly.
He pulls really well, but the rest was just not good. “Project” might be a polite way to put it.

[Atticus 4,216]

40 minutes ago, SKA the boss said:

Just did a rewatch. Hutson would definitely benefit from a redshirt year based on that game’s performance, but I’m sure the staff wants the young guys to learn fast and on the fly.
He pulls really well, but the rest was just not good. “Project” might be a polite way to put it.

Hutson is likely gonna be our 2nd or 3rd best guy by the end of the year. He looked really solid in the spring game and everyone raves about how football smart he is. Let's see how he looks against UTSA.

[SKA the boss 729]

Flood clearly has faith in him. And Jones, albeit a limited sample size, seems to be showing improvement with an off-season of quality development. So trust the process.
It will be nice when our program doesn’t have to rely on freshmen to handle line duties.

[Codaxx 6,253]

10 hours ago, SKA the boss said:

Just did a rewatch. Hutson would definitely benefit from a redshirt year based on that game’s performance, but I’m sure the staff wants the young guys to learn fast and on the fly.
He pulls really well, but the rest was just not good. “Project” might be a polite way to put it.

I would be surprised if Campbell doesnt get more run vs Bama.