Despite a talented, experienced line, the Longhorns running game struggled to get going as the big humans struggling to keep backs clean.
Heading into the 2024 season, one of the chief advantages for the Texas Longhorns was the experience and talent along the offensive line. The Longhorns brought back Jake Majors for an additional year, along with multi-year contributors in Hayden Conner, DJ Campbell, Cole Hutson, and Kelvin Banks, as well as first-year starter Cameron Williams.
The fact that Banks entered the year with first-round NFL grades and with Williams getting chatter as well did not do much to tamp down expectations for the year.
Looking back at the Longhorns’ year, the offensive line may not have been as stout as we expected heading into the year — especially in run blocking.
Individually, the Longhorns had just two players ranked in the top 80 players at their positions according to Pro Football Focus with Banks ranking No. 11 among tackles and Majors coming in No. 35 among centers. After that pair, the next-highest ranked player was Hayden Conner at No. 87 with all other players ranking outside of the top 100 players at their position.
What may be surprising to some based on their eye test of the offensive line, according to the grades from Pro Football Focus — they were a better pass-blocking unit than run-blocking unit. All five regular starters boasted a pass-blocking grade greater than their run blocking grade, with the biggest gap posted by Conner with nearly 20 points between, followed closely by Majors with 17 points. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the smallest gap between pass blocking and run blocking was Banks, who came in at just 8.8 points, a drop from an 89.8 pass-blocking grade to an 81 run-blocking grade.
According to the advanced rushing statistics, that judgment bears itself out when you look at the unit overall. Texas averaged 2.9 line yards per rush, four from the bottom of the conference, and were “stuffed” (stopped for no gain or a loss) on 20 percent of their rushes, good enough for No. 13 in the conference. With the help of four extra game, the Longhorns finished last in the country in tackles for loss allowed and No. 122 in tackles for loss allowed per game.
In critical games, including both losses to Georgia, the double-overtime win in the Peach Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State, Texas struggled to run the football effectively with the running backs averaging 2.7 yards per carry with a long of 15 yards in those games — when the Longhorns most needed a balanced offensive attack, they became one-dimensional and almost entirely reliant on the passing game.
With Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian wanting to major in outside zone, the Horns had trouble executing that scheme consistently, especially when opponents appeared to know it was coming. Against Arizona State, Sarkisian went to a gap-heavy attack, but that didn’t work, either.
Conversely, Texas offensive linemen had a combined 2,652 snaps in pass protection, credited with nine sacks, 13 hits on the quarterback, and 81 pressures overall, coming in at just three percent of pass-blocking opportunities.
That confirms one of the biggest frustrations of Texas fans this year with 31 of the 40 sacks this year credited to the quarterbacks.
Despite the frustrations with the offense that stem from the offensive line, the Longhorns still had a relatively successful year on that side of the ball. Thanks in part to the extended season, Steve Sarkisian’s record of 1,000-yard rushers continued with Quintrevion Wisner’s 1,064 yards and Quinn Ewers finished No. 4 in the SEC in passing yardage and atop the conference with 31 passing touchdowns.
The Longhorns will have a lot of production and talent to replace coming into spring, with just one lineman with more than 800 snaps in 2024 returning for 2025 in Campbell, as well Hutson, who also factored into the rotation at right guard. Unfortunately for Texas, Campbell hasn’t lived up to his ranking as the top interior offensive lineman in the 2022 recruiting class and Hutson hasn’t been particularly good in any of his three seasons, including starting as a freshman while playing through a torn labrum in his shoulder.
Late-season injuries to Banks and Williams did afford rising redshirt sophomore left tackle Trevor Goosby 261 late-season snaps, a positive development for the coming season, and rising redshirt freshman Brandon Baker, the prospective starter at right tackle, looked technically sound in his 65 late-game snaps.
Still, the need to replace four starters with just two regular contributors returning combined with the imperative to improve the running game in big moments presents a two-tiered challenge for position coach Kyle Flood. And that’s not even mentioning the pressure added by Arch Manning stepping into the starting quarterback role.