Classes are back in session on the Forty Acres after spring break and the Texas Longhorns are set for the first of 15 spring practices on Tuesday morning as head coach Steve Sarkisian tries to integrate three new assistants and 27 new players into a team culture that produced a 25-5 record, one conference title, and two College Football Playoff semifinal appearances in back-to-back seasons.
Football is in the air pic.twitter.com/ohPh1hA8C5
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) March 24, 2025
Arch Manning will go through his first practice as QB1 after spending winter conditioning taking over as a team leader as all but four members of the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2025 get worked into the mix as Sarkisian and his staff keep the entire team on one practice field to help everyone adjust to the program’s new look.
And here are five questions that loom over the month of spring practices.
Who will step up along the offensive line?
Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood faces the task of replacing four starters with a combined 157 career starts, including center Jake Majors, who set the program record with 56 starts.
Senior DJ Campbell, the nation’s No. 1 interior offensive lineman in the 2022 recruiting class signed by Flood that also included Kelvin Banks and Cam Williams, is back as the lone returning starter.
At left tackle, rising redshirt sophomore Trevor Goosby became a proven commodity by comporting himself well against some elite late-season opponents as Banks dealt with an ankle injury and Williams dealt with a knee injury.
On the other side, redshirt freshman Brandon Baker lived up to his consensus five-star billing over 65 snaps that flashed skills matching his reputation for athleticism and refined technique for his age.
Unlike left tackle, though, Baker has a position battle to win against redshirt sophomore Andre Cojoe, who has drawn some buzz this offseason for reshaping his body as he develops physically — it’s Cojoe’s third spring practice, but he started winter conditioning in 2023 having just turned 17 years old.
Next to Goosby, Texas has to replace three-year starter Hayden Conner at left guard with redshirt junior Neto Umeozulu facing one of the most important spring practices for any player on the roster. Can the former consensus top-100 prospect finally emerge as a starting-caliber player in his fourth year in the program? It’s certainly time.
Perhaps the most important offensive line position to watch during the spring is at center, where Sarkisian and Flood will coach a unit without Majors for their first time in their tenure on the Forty Acres. Tasked with reading defenses before the snap to make effective line callas, Majors was known for his leadership and his football intelligence — replacing him will be no easy task.
First up is senior Cole Hutson, who rotated with Campbell at right guard in 2024 after enrolling during spring of 2022 and holding off the summer enrollee Campbell during preseason camp to start as a true freshman that season. Hutson wasn’t particularly good that year playing through a torn labrum and fixing his shoulder hasn’t led to an especially positive trajectory in his execution.
“He’s been in the program and he’s going to he’s going to play center for us,” Sarkisian said of Hutson two weeks ago. “But that doesn’t take away some of the other guys that are working at center for us and that will get plenty of looks at it in spring practice to find the best combination of five.”
Also in competition for the job is Hutson’s classmate Conner Robertson, who played 75 snaps after Majors was injured in the 2023 Cotton Bowl, committing two penalties, allowing four quarterback pressures, and grading out well below average in run blocking and pass blocking, according to Pro Football Focus.
That was almost as many snaps as Robertson played in the entire 2024 season and almost a third of his career total. Important to note on Robertson — he graded out as an above-average player in 77 snaps in 2025 playing at the end of blowouts, so there’s some reason to believe that Robertson has floor somewhere around replacement level entering his fourth season under Flood.
And then there’s redshirt freshman Daniel Cruz, recruited by Flood as the program’s future center, although the odds seem slim of Cruz passing either of the two much older and more experienced players during spring practice.
Because of the lost talent and experience along the offensive line, it’s arguably the program’s biggest question mark heading into the 2025 season. Nonetheless, Sarkisian has faith in his longtime assistant to get it right.
“I wouldn’t want to have anybody else but Kyle Flood tasked with finding that right combination of five guys,” Sarkisian said.
Amen.
How much can Texas improve in the red zone?
One of Sarkisian’s most consistent themes is the need for adaptability, most typically in reference to the myriad changes happening to in all aspects of college football, but also in the need to keep learning from mistakes or deficiencies and altering practice structure in response.
The turnover on the staff with three assistants leaving and other promotions and additions as a result of last summer’s rule changes eliminating limits on countable assistants has forced Sarkisian to reassess everything they’re doing.
“We’re really forced right now, because of the some of the youth that we have to really go back to ground zero and really evaluate, was this the best thing for us or can we make some changes to what we’re doing?” Sarkisian said.
From a situational perspective, red-zone issues contributed heavily to a second consecutive loss in the playoff semifinals as Texas followed a 49.2-percent touchdown rate in the red zone, 120th nationally, with a touchdown rate of 73.4 percent that ranked 54th.
It was a significant improvement overall, but the same disappointing results in some key moments, including the SEC Championship game loss to Georgia keep those red-zone issues in the forefront of the program’s lingering deficiencies this offseason.
Of course, while it bears noting the credit to Sarkisian for building a program with a consistently decreasing number of deficiencies, the initial data points suggest a cap on Texas’ success until it can execute at a high level in the red zone in the season’s most important moments.
That’s almost certainly what it will take to win a national championship.
How well does Texas develop its program depth?
One of Sarkisian’s biggest takeaways from the longest season in program history was the need to develop depth early in the season because of how much attrition takes place over a 16-game or 17-game schedule.
“I’m a firm believer in we almost have to play every guy on our team those first four games, because you just don’t know. Come game 15-16, maybe game 17, if a guy’s nicked up and a guy’s getting counted on, he needs to be ready to play,” Sarkisian said, citing Goosby stepping in for Banks and Williams last season.
“We’ve got to really do a good job early in this season of exposing our players to the experience of playing football.”
With the SEC currently at an eight-game conference schedule, Texas will miss one of those opportunities by opening the season against Ohio State in Columbus, putting an increased importance on preparing players during the spring to get onto the field during non-conference games against San Jose State, UTEP, and Sam Houston.
“Now the challenge for us as a coaching staff is to grow quickly, that we’ve got to build the foundation, that we’ve got to grow because I do believe we have a talented football team, but we have some youth and we have some inexperience, and I’m really pressing upon everybody in our program, coaches, staff members included, to take the next step and to develop the leadership that’s needed on this team, because who we were a year ago, individually, we’ve got to be better than this year, right? We can’t remain the same. So everybody’s got to grow,” Sarkisian said.
That’s particularly true of the 22 early enrollees, the five transfers, and the players on the fringes of contributing last season who could grow into bigger roles with about one third of last season’s roster gone to the portal or set to participate in Tuesday’s Pro Day.
How much of the offseason cross training impacts Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense?
In the dearth of news during winter conditioning, the revelation that Texas was cross training some defensive players in addition to working redshirt sophomore wide receiver Ryan Niblett on defense counted as a significant development.
And, indeed, it could have implications for the 2025 season as well — although Niblett still projects as a core special teams contributor only, working senior edge Trey Moore at inside linebacker, senior nickel back Jaylon Guilbeau at outside cornerback, and safety Jelani McDonald at nickel builds versatility for this year’s defense, increasingly a hallmark for coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense thanks to continuity and much-improved talent levels since 2021.
For Moore, his frame and downhill ability make him an intriguing second-level player as the Longhorns try to get rising star edge Colin Simmons and Moore on the field at the same time, a decision that has the added benefit of developing Moore’s versatility, an imperative for the UTSA transfer’s NFL Draft stock.
The obvious comparison for Guilbeau’s cross training outside is the 2024 Thorpe Award winner and projected first-round draft pick, Jahdae Barron.
But Guilbeau probably won’t be 2024 Barron and the most direct reason why the Horns may not need Guilbeau outside on a routine basis is because of the positive flashes and prototypical size and skill set of sophomore Kobe Black, the development of redshirt sophomore Warren Roberson, and the potential instant-impact ability of early enrollee Kade Phillips, a late riser in becoming a consensus five-star prospect ranked among the nation’s top 30 players.
Despite losing Barron and Wake Forest transfer Gavin Holmes, a solid contributor, Texas didn’t pursue a cornerback in the transfer portal because of Guilbeau’s ability to cross train outside and the talent on campus this spring.
Arguably the biggest reason why Guilbeau won’t spend too much time outside this spring, though, is because Texas is short on healthy, proven safeties alongside redshirt senior Michael Taaffe with junior Derek Williams still recovering from his season-ending knee injury and little experience behind McDonald, who played some big nickel for the Horns in the College Football Playoffs.
“Jelani is really a fantastic player. We utilized him some at nickel last year where we got out of going to base defense where we’re putting a third linebacker on the field, where Jelani could be somewhat of a hybrid for us versus teams that we’re getting into some bigger personnel, some 12 personnel, and things,” Sarkisian said.
“All those things kind of remain to be seen and how we evolve as a defense and where we go, what this looks like, and how we grow, but he’s a versatile guy that could definitely play safety or play Star. He really could be a dime linebacker for us in some of our dime packages.”
McDonald looks like a breakout star at either or both positions, so the bigger storyline on the back end may be the development of redshirt freshman Xavier Filsaime, a consensus five-star prospect and the No. 2 safety in the 2024 recruiting class. Disappointingly, Filsaime didn’t make any special teams last year and fell behind classmate Jordon Johnson-Rubell, setting up an important spring for Filsaime even as Johnson-Rubell is on a trajectory to factor into the rotation at safety and nickel.
Who emerges at wide receiver?
Combine the continued rehabilitation of junior DeAndre Moore Jr. from the toe injury that limited him late last season with the departures of Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond, and Silas Bolden and there are plenty of opportunities at the position this spring.
Sophomore Ryan Wingo, who recently underwent LASIK surgery, is the top returning receiver who will fully participate on Tuesday.
Newcomer Jaime Ffrench has a certain smooth refinement to his game that could set him up for an impactful spring.
Fellow early enrollee Kaliq Lockett has elite physical attributes on the outside.
In the slot, early enrollee Daylan McCutcheon will benefit the most from Moore’s limitations in terms of actual repetitions, but another intriguing storyline is whether the last addition to the position group in the 2025 class, do-it-all athlete Michael Terry, could see reps as a big slot capable of motioning into the backfield or across the formation to take advantage of his ability as a ball carrier.
Other than Wingo, redshirt sophomore Parker Livingstone was the only 2023 wide receiver signee to play as Aaron Butler redshirted and Freddie Dubose rehabilitated from the knee injury that ended his high school career.
When Livingstone signed, he was recovering from a high school injury as well, but more notable is that Sarkisian singled out Livingstone’s linear speed when he signed with positive feedback from position coach Chris Jackson about Livingstone’s overall improvement, including his agility and route-running ability.
The smaller Butler has truly elite straight-line speed and an edge reflective of the physicality and contact courage he showed as a high school defensive back. If he’s developed his route-running enough to play in the slot, he could avoid getting buried amongst a really talented and projectable group of outside receivers.