2025 Texas Longhorns football preview: New-look offensive line searches for consistency

Note: This is the first story in a 7-week series previewing the 2025 Texas Longhorns football team. Tune in to KXAN Gamenight at 10:30 p.m. Sunday for the broadcast segment with more discussion and breakdown at 6:30 p.m. Monday on the KXAN+ CTV app

AUSTIN (KXAN) — One of the biggest questions for Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian to answer going into 2025 is how he's going to reshape the offensive line.

It's not going to be a complete and total rebuild like some might think, but it will certainly have a new look to it with four starters from last season moving on to the NFL. Kelvin Banks Jr., Cam Williams and Hayden Conner were selected in the 2025 NFL draft, while Jake Majors signed a free agent contract. Banks was selected No. 9 overall by the New Orleans Saints while Williams and Conner were late-round selections.

The Longhorns' offensive line was a finalist for the 2024 Joe Moore Award and helped pave the way for one of the most prolific offenses in the country. This year's unit has the chance to do the same, and when Sarkisian spoke to reporters during spring practices in March, he said a couple of players really stood out.

"This is probably the best version of DJ Campbell we've gotten," he said. "There's growth for everybody, and he's taken a really big step from a leadership standpoint and energy standpoint. This is the best condition he's been in."

Campbell started at right guard all 16 games in 2024 and all 14 games in 2023, making him the most experienced returning lineman. He was one of the top recruits coming out of Arlington Bowie High School in 2021, and now he has the chance to become the next leader of the unit.

Sarkisian said he's looking for "steady growth," and now, with the team in its summer conditioning program before training camp officially starts in late July, the matchup with defending national champions Ohio State will be here in a blink.

Senior Cole Hutson is another player Sarkisian will lean on for experience. His 13 starts and 38 appearances in a variety of spots, but he may be the replacement for Majors at center. Sarkisian said his previous experience playing the position "has been helpful."

Trevor Goosby filled in at both tackle positions last season, for Banks at left tackle in the Lone Star Showdown against Texas A&M and for Williams on the right side against Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. The redshirt sophomore out of Melissa, Texas, will be one of the most important pieces of the line to protect quarterback Arch Manning.

"I think we all have an idea of who Trevor is," Sarkisian said. "We got a pretty good glimpse of that, not a finished product, but we got a good glimpse of what he looks like."

Connor Robertson, a Westlake graduate and senior in the program, is expected to help with depth at multiple positions on the line, including center. He played in four games last year after appearing in 10 in his sophomore year.

Developing players and creating depth is the charge for Kyle Flood, the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. Sarkisian said there's "a healthy competition" at the position, and throughout the spring, he did his best to keep the unit progressing.

"I'm always trying to fight us taking two steps forward and one step backward," he said. "We'll find that right combination. That's the one thing Kyle and I have done over the years, is try to find the best five and slot them in there, then who's six, seven, eight. That kind of foundation for who you can count on going into games."

Who are some of the up-and-coming players?

Sarkisian singled out sophomore Brandon Baker as a player who has made vast improvement. He played in eight games during his true freshman season last year, and the 2023 4-star recruit out of the southern California football factory Mater Dei is pushing to get more time this season.

"He was a developmental guy last year, but he's starting to show a lot of consistency," Sarkisian said after the team's 10th spring practice in mid-April.

Redshirt freshman Nate Kibble also caught Sarkisian's eye during the spring, as well as sophomore Andre Cojoe, freshman Nick Brooks and junior Neto Umeozulu.

"I love the growth of Nate Kibble right now, of where he's at," Sarkisian said.

What's ahead?

At an event for the Houston Touchdown Club in late April, Sarkisian said the unit has "high-level players."

"When they're on, it's really, really good," he said. "The key as we move forward will be continuity and consistency."

He knows there will be ups and downs. He saw that during spring practice. Once training camp gets going in earnest, he'll have a chance to see how much the unit has jelled and where they need to go from there.

"We have to make sure that we almost force-feed consistency and continuity among that group, and that starts with trust, right?" he said. "Trust in calls, footwork, trusting the guy next to you. We have to continue to find that growth throughout the summer and into fall camp because it won't be about the talent with this group. It's going to be about the level of consistency they play with, individually and collectively."