OTF Premium Andre Cojoe's strong camp has Steve Sarkisian feeling better about Texas' offensive line depth

[Jeff Howe]

AUSTIN, Texas — Steve Sarkisian’s prayers — along with those of Trevor Goosby, his family and Longhorn fans who waited with bated breath for the official word on the severity of the left knee injury Goosby sustained in practice on Monday — were answered when Texas’ franchise left tackle was diagnosed with a bone bruise.

“I was glad I went to church,” Sarkisian said after Saturday’s scrimmage.

Sarkisian, who met with the media on Zoom after wrapping up the scrimmage, which came with two weeks to go until the Sept. 5 season opener against Texas State, said Goosby “is making really good progress.”

While the Longhorns took the field for their second camp scrimmage without the 6-foot-7-inch, 325-pound Goosby available, he’s expected back sooner rather than later. That’s a much better outcome than the initial concern that Texas might’ve lost its 2025 All-SEC bookend for an extended period of time to a non-contact injury.

“Those are probably more scary than contact injuries," Sarkisian said. "Why did that occur non-contact? Why did he kind of buckle the way that he did? We were on grass. It wasn't during the day; it wasn't too hot to where he didn't have his balance.

“That was as good of news as we could've received,” he added. “For that to be the result back, it was definitely a sigh of relief.”

With Goosby on the mend, Andre Cojoe has made the most of his opportunity. The 6-foot-6-inch, 339-pound Cojoe, who took all of the first-team snaps at left tackle on Saturday, On Texas Football has learned, has come on strong enough that Sarkisian publicly gave him the nod as the team’s No. 3 tackle behind Goosby and Melvin Siani heading into the season.

“The fact that he's getting these quality reps right now with the ones and having to block Colin (Simmons) and Lance (Jackson) and Zina (Umeozulu) and those guys, and Rasheem Biles coming off the edge, I think those are great opportunities for him,” Sarkisian said of Cojoe, who was competing with Brandon Baker for the starting right tackle job last preseason before he suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Sarkisian acknowledged that the road to recovery for an offensive lineman attempting to return from a knee injury can be arduous. Nevertheless, Cojoe’s work has positioned him to be the first offensive tackle off the bench for what has the potential to be one of the most explosive and productive offenses in the country in 2026, a little more than a year after his injury.

“He's got his weight to where, you know, he's a big man, but he's light on his feet,” Sarkisian said. “He can move. He's explosive.”

Sarkisian said Cojoe will come out of the scrimmage having learned more about the physical and mental conditioning required to play consistently well for upwards of 70 snaps against top-notch competition. Still, Saturday capped off a week in which the fourth-year lineman’s stock is on the rise.

“I would argue there were two or three days this week you didn't notice that it was him at left tackle,” Sarkisian said. “That's a great thing as an offensive lineman. When you're not noticing who it is, that just means the guy is doing his job really well.”

The strides made by Cojoe and Dylan Sikorski, who took the bulk of the first-team left guard snaps throughout the week and in Saturday’s scrimmage as Laurence Seymore works through what Sarkisian said was an “injury hiccup” coming out of the first camp scrimmage, have gone a long way toward Sarkisian and Kyle Flood fielding the kind of depth the Longhorns lacked last season. Sarkisian expects Seymore to be back on the practice field on Monday, but the progress of Cojoe and Sikorski has Sarkisian feeling good about how things are unfolding on the left side of the offensive line.

“I do think we're going to get the left side back, but on the same token, I do think these reps are good for these guys because, knock on wood, I don't know if, when, what, how injuries might occur in season,” Sarkisian said. “The fact that these guys are getting some reps with our ones against high-level defenders, I think is good for them, preparing them for the season.”

Even though Sarkisian admitted that Cojoe isn’t a finished product, he’s liked what he’s seen from the Mansfield Timberview product throughout camp enough to believe Texas is better equipped now than it was in 2025 to handle sudden lineup changes in the trenches.

“He's still got room to grow and still can continue to improve, but I have been pleased with his ability to step in at that position,” Sarkisian said of Cojoe. “I think it gives us confidence for the future if something were to occur that he could step in and play well for us.”

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[Jeff Howe]

Cojoe has been one of the surprises of camp. Knee injuries can be tough for big guys, but credit to Cojoe for his recovery and what he's done to position himself higher up on the depth chart than I expected him to be.

One of those sneaky camp battles we talked about all spring and summer was the No. 3 tackle. Right now, it looks like Cojoe has a clear and sizable lead over Jordan Coleman, Jonte Newman and the rest of the field.

[TheRoJoShow]

Wonder how he’d fare as a thumper at LB

[jhookem91]

Great article, Jeff - as always.  The comment about not noticing who was at LT for 2-3 days this week was high praise for Cojoe.  He has really developed over the course of the last couple of years.  There is a night and day difference when you compare him now to what he looked like in the spring game in 2024 when Vasek got the better of him repeatedly.