Texas banking on big play from O-line

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas –Though undersized at times, the Texas offensive line is standing as a strong point so far this season. Though they’re still growing and improving, according to head coach Tom Herman.

As offensive football starts with — what else — the offensive line, success or failure for a team can be determined by how that five-man unit blocks, adapts to the defense and the game plan between the lines, and how it communicates both on and off the field.

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A Hand In Improving

One of the real question marks for Texas heading into the 2018 season was its offensive line, which was racked with injuries and turned over to inexperienced players during the Longhorns 7-6 campaign last season.

To make sure that unit improved, Herman hired Herb Hand – one of the best in the business – away from Auburn to be the Longhorns’ offensive line coach, and to help stabilize a group that needed more strength, increased attention to detail, and a little nastiness to make them better.

“We have a lot of young guys who have veteran mentalities,” graduate transfer Calvin Anderson said. “That comes from the coaches, especially Coach Hand, he talks about it every game.”

So far so good. The Longhorns have had success both running and throwing the football and risen as high as No. 6 in the nation (they are now 15th after a loss last week to Oklahoma State) due in large part by the play of the guys in the trenches.

“How would I grade the O-Line?” Herman said on Monday when asked. “I would say above average, which considering where we came from with last season’s group is a drastic improvement. We’re doing a much better job of getting in front of people. The first step of good O-Line play is you’ve got to at least get in front of them.

“Now we’ve got to do a better job here these last few games of starting moving people, and it’s hard.”

Opening Up Bigger Things

The Texas offense largely has taken what the defense has given them this season, with few “big plays” through the first half of the season.

The upcoming test will be a hard one as Texas hosts visiting West Virginia Saturday. The Mountaineers have what could be considered the best defense in the Big 12 Conference thus far, allowing only 19.6 points per game, 349.4 yards per game while collecting 17 sacks.

The Longhorns offensive line has been a relatively cohesive group this year, with junior center Zach Shackelford’s foot injury all that’s changed the unit over the first eight games.

Both Anderson and senior Patrick Vahe have started every game at left tackle and left guard, respectively, and senior Elijah Rodriguez has also been on the field for every contest – with four starts each at right guard and center, the latter move necessitated by Shackelford’s injury.

When Rodriguez has been at center, sophomore Derek Kersetter has started at right guard. Redshirt freshman Samuel Cosmi has stared the past seven games at right tackle.

The Longhorns knew what they were going to get from Anderson, a two-time All-Conference USA selection when he was at Rice who started all 36 games in which he played during his career with the Owls, as well as from Vahe and Shackelford (both long-time starters for the Longhorns) and Rodriguez, one of Texas’ most improved players over the past two seasons and a team captain.

The right tackle spot was a big question mark and Kersetter and Cosmi have made huge strides at the position over the course of the preseason and the first eight games.

“We say, ‘nobody’s a freshman anymore, everybody’s a veteran so play like a vet, have the mentality of a vet,’” Anderson added. “You look all around the locker room and see guys who are 18, 19 and played college football for a year or two and they’re thinking like you do – that’s pretty special.”

Vahe said the group has kept a positive mindset throughout the entire season as part of its successful learning curve.

“Regardless if we are down or if we’re up we have to make sure that our head is on straight and that we just continue to execute in the way that we practice,” Vahe said.

Playing With Power

At around 280 pounds each, both Anderson and Cosmi are a bit undersized for the tackle spots in today’s college football landscape – that position is usually manned by guys going at least 320 pounds.

In fact, according to the NCAA, the average size of a starting FBS offensive lineman in the Football Bowl Subdivision for 2018 is 305.4 pounds.

“I don’t know if there’s another Power-Five school in the country that both their tackles are 280 pounds,” Herman said. “But the one thing they are is athletic as heck and smart, really smart. So we have to be mindful of what we ask them to do.”

Yet they’ve mostly kept true sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger away from pass rushers, as he has only two interceptions on the season and the offense as a whole didn’t have a turnover for 295 consecutive plays at one point this season — a nod to their execution. And now true freshman Keaontay Ingram is up to 5.9 yards per carry on the year to lead the Longhorns, totaling  455 rushing yards on 77 carries so far this year.

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