Moderators CJ Vogel Posted 1 hour ago Moderators Posted 1 hour ago Bear with me — as I type this out of my phone instead of laptop — but I have some thoughts on the offensive line. Of course, this comes on the heels of freshman Nick Brooks entering the portal Tuesday afternoon. Brooks becomes the fifth Longhorn offensive lineman to enter the portal in the 2026 portal window, joining Daniel Cruz, Connor Stroh, Nate Kibble and Neto Umeozulu. I tweeted this and mentioned it in the Portal Palace thread, but in the offseasons of 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, Texas had just seven departures out of the offensive line room to the portal. So all of this really comes as new ground for the Texas program. It’s just something that has not been experienced so far and as Texas continues its path down the roster cutting circuit, it makes sense to see this room start to lose some pieces. After all, offensive linemen are relatively expensive. But here is my point here — if the NFL parallels we have seen take place with the Texas roster continue in the offensive line room, it is more than realistic to expect the Longhorns to carry 10-12 offensive linemen in a given season. With where things sit currently, Texas has 12 offensive linemen on roster when you include Sikorski and the 2 early enrollees + Nicolas Robertson. In a given season, all you really need is eight. Both Sarkisian and Flood have mentioned that as the goal to find the top eight in spring and fall camp. While part of that is coach speak, the numbers back it up. *** 2022 • 7 offensive linemen played 100+ snaps 877 - Christian Jones 860 - Jake Majors 858 - Kelvin Banks 850 - Hayden Conner 781 - Cole Hutson 162 - Andrej Karic 129 - DJ Campbell 2023 • 8 played over 100 snaps, only 5 with 150+ 985 - Kelvin Banks 982 - Hayden Conner 908 - Jake Majors 907 - Christian Jones 868 - DJ Campbell 144 - Cole Hutson 126 - Cam Williams 124 - Connor Robertson 2024 • Depth was tested a bit more, with 7 playing over 300 snaps. No on else saw more than 81. 1067 - Hayden Conner 1042 - Jake Majors 975 - Cameron Williams 935 - Kelvin Banks 809 - DJ Campbell 389 - Cole Hutson 319 - Trevor Goosby 2025 • Even with as rocky this offensive line season was, only seven players saw more than 100 snaps. 873 - Brandon Baker 847 - Trevor Goosby 831 - DJ Campbell 645 - Cole Hutson 557 - Connor Robertson 310 - Connor Stroh 221 - Nick Brooks *** All of this to prove the point of this — We are seeing Texas concisely construct a roster with as few fish as necessary. But making sure those fish are the biggest in the pond. I bet Texas carries 10-12 offensive linemen from here on out, with the top 7, maybe top 8, being Ready for Play type of guys. Trevor Goosby, Connor Robertson, Brandon Baker, Dylan Sikorski. There are four of the 7-8. Add in an older Cojoe + Chatman as serviceable options as well. Now, who else joins the pond, and how big of fish are they? Thats the vision on my end. 24 1 Quote
Moderators CJ Vogel Posted 1 hour ago Author Moderators Posted 1 hour ago 1 minute ago, NTX_Horn said: Still needs those big fish for this year. Texas will continue to recruit the Kelvin Banks’ of the HS world. 8 Quote
bourbasted Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago Good take, CJ. The landscape has changed immensely. IMHO, it's lazy to blame Flood for the loss of Brooks (he can be blamed for other things). The likelihood he has been recruited behind the scenes to a school who will feature him as a starter is almost a certainty. Texas will continue to lose key long-term project linemen in the new era unless something changes. We will also gain key pieces, so I think we're monitoring the new ways to see what becomes a norm vs a bad portal year when it comes to OL and other key positions. 2 Quote
airhelm24 Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago 43 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said: Bear with me — as I type this out of my phone instead of laptop — but I have some thoughts on the offensive line. Of course, this comes on the heels of freshman Nick Brooks entering the portal Tuesday afternoon. Brooks becomes the fifth Longhorn offensive lineman to enter the portal in the 2026 portal window, joining Daniel Cruz, Connor Stroh, Nate Kibble and Neto Umeozulu. I tweeted this and mentioned it in the Portal Palace thread, but in the offseasons of 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, Texas had just seven departures out of the offensive line room to the portal. So all of this really comes as new ground for the Texas program. It’s just something that has not been experienced so far and as Texas continues its path down the roster cutting circuit, it makes sense to see this room start to lose some pieces. After all, offensive linemen are relatively expensive. But here is my point here — if the NFL parallels we have seen take place with the Texas roster continue in the offensive line room, it is more than realistic to expect the Longhorns to carry 10-12 offensive linemen in a given season. With where things sit currently, Texas has 12 offensive linemen on roster when you include Sikorski and the 2 early enrollees + Nicolas Robertson. In a given season, all you really need is eight. Both Sarkisian and Flood have mentioned that as the goal to find the top eight in spring and fall camp. While part of that is coach speak, the numbers back it up. *** 2022 • 7 offensive linemen played 100+ snaps 877 - Christian Jones 860 - Jake Majors 858 - Kelvin Banks 850 - Hayden Conner 781 - Cole Hutson 162 - Andrej Karic 129 - DJ Campbell 2023 • 8 played over 100 snaps, only 5 with 150+ 985 - Kelvin Banks 982 - Hayden Conner 908 - Jake Majors 907 - Christian Jones 868 - DJ Campbell 144 - Cole Hutson 126 - Cam Williams 124 - Connor Robertson 2024 • Depth was tested a bit more, with 7 playing over 300 snaps. No on else saw more than 81. 1067 - Hayden Conner 1042 - Jake Majors 975 - Cameron Williams 935 - Kelvin Banks 809 - DJ Campbell 389 - Cole Hutson 319 - Trevor Goosby 2025 • Even with as rocky this offensive line season was, only seven players saw more than 100 snaps. 873 - Brandon Baker 847 - Trevor Goosby 831 - DJ Campbell 645 - Cole Hutson 557 - Connor Robertson 310 - Connor Stroh 221 - Nick Brooks *** All of this to prove the point of this — We are seeing Texas concisely construct a roster with as few fish as necessary. But making sure those fish are the biggest in the pond. I bet Texas carries 10-12 offensive linemen from here on out, with the top 7, maybe top 8, being Ready for Play type of guys. Trevor Goosby, Connor Robertson, Brandon Baker, Dylan Sikorski. There are four of the 7-8. Add in an older Cojoe + Chatman as serviceable options as well. Now, who else joins the pond, and how big of fish are they? Thats the vision on my end. Good points and a logical progression. 1 Quote
Moderators CJ Vogel Posted 1 hour ago Author Moderators Posted 1 hour ago The concern is what 2027 looks like. But that’s a full portal cycle and year of development away. So not even worth worrying over. 4 Quote
drag worm Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago Here’s where things sit without listing freshman or adding anyone else in the portal. LT - Goosby (Jr) LG - Sikorski (So) C - C.Robertson (Sr) RG - Chatman (Jr) RT - Baker (Jr) or Cojoe (Knee / Jr) Terrifying 1 Quote
Texbam Posted 57 minutes ago Posted 57 minutes ago Not sure why you’d want to go so thin…just wait til a rash of injuries happens (and it will eventually) and then you’re SOL. 1 Quote
NothinButDaHorns34 Posted 49 minutes ago Posted 49 minutes ago 33 minutes ago, horn1 said: Looking pretty bleak right now if you ask me. Glad they aren’t asking you then lol 1 Quote
Thorn007 Posted 43 minutes ago Posted 43 minutes ago so we lost 5 lineman and gained one from ore st that was a defensive lineman the year before. yikes yo. better get alfred to summon the bat phone. we are in an emergency I repeat... 1 Quote
John F. Posted 39 minutes ago Posted 39 minutes ago Thanks CJ. Appreciate the perspective. After reading I feel better about the OL. (in 2026. 2027 is yikes) Quote
UTexas Posted 37 minutes ago Posted 37 minutes ago 24 minutes ago, drag worm said: Here’s where things sit without listing freshman or adding anyone else in the portal. LT - Goosby (Jr) LG - Sikorski (So) C - C.Robertson (Sr) RG - Chatman (Jr) RT - Baker (Jr) or Cojoe (Knee / Jr) Terrifying Terrifying? Little dramatic aren’t you? Quote
mmdaytontexas Posted 34 minutes ago Posted 34 minutes ago I could see a lot of cross training in different positions. If you had a lot of injuries, I could even see a DT cross training there. Quote
drag worm Posted 17 minutes ago Posted 17 minutes ago 18 minutes ago, UTexas said: Terrifying? Little dramatic aren’t you? As it stands? Not dramatic at all. But we will obviously be adding more than one dude in the portal. Quote
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