Texas’ offensive line was considered one of its weakest position groups under former head coach Tom Herman. Now that Steve Sarkisian and Kyle Flood have taken over, recruiting and development along the line has now become one of their biggest strengths.
The Longhorns landed two five-star players on the offensive line in the 2023 recruiting class. Left tackle Kelvin Banks more than lived up to his ranking as a true freshman, while interior offensive lineman Devon Campbell is currently competing for a starting role.
Sixth-year senior Christian Jones has made notable progress under offensive line coach Kyle Flood. Needless to say, Texas’ line has experience, talent, and depth heading into the 2023 season.
PFF recently ranked the top 10 offensive lines in the country for 2023 and Texas landed at No. 7 overall. Here’s what Max Chadwick had to say about the Longhorns place in the rankings.
Texas is the only school on this list that returns all five starters from a year ago. However, it was a unit that finished just 73rd in the country last season in PFF grade (61.6), so improvements are needed.
There are bright spots, though, particularly at offensive tackle. Kelvin Banks Jr. is a top-10 tackle in the country and was stellar as a true freshman in 2022. His 3.5% pressure rate allowed on true pass sets ranked sixth among Power Five tackles. Christian Jones will once again start on the right side and finished third among Big 12 tackles last year with a 2.7% pressure rate allowed.
Jake Majors is entering his third season as the Longhorns’ starting center and was seventh among Power Five ones last year with an 81.9 pass-blocking grade. The weakness of this group is at guard, as both Hayden Conner and Cole Hutson earned sub-55.0 grades in 2022. Hutson was just a true freshman, to be fair. If he and Conner don’t take a leap, though, Texas could turn to DJ Campbell, a five-star recruit in the 2022 class who earned an 83.1 pass-blocking grade on limited snaps last season.
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