AUSTIN, Texas — Outstanding offense starts on the line.
The Texas Football team’s offensive line is shining this season, and now the nation is taking notice. The Horns bruisers on the O-line were honored by the Joe Moore Award this week with a place on the midseason honor roll.
With the offense getting better by the the game, the honor recognizes the impact the line has had this season under new coach Herb Hand. The Joe Moore Award recognizes the Most Outstanding Offensive Line unit in college football.
The starting unit of Patrick Vahe, Calvin Anderson, Elijah Rodriguez, Zach Shackelford and freshman Samuel Cosmi, along with the ‘sixth starter’ sophomore Derek Kerstetter, are strong because of the love they share along the line.
“Including Derek we’ve got guys in the starting five that are ready to play anytime,” said Anderson, a graduate transfer. “From what I’ve been able see, very happy with the progress we’ve made over the year. Obviously we have things to get better at and we’re never gonna be content with where we’re at.”
Related: All love along Horns’ O-line
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Hand has taken the Horns in a great direction as first-year co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. This season the Longhorns have been much-improved along the offensive line as UT leads the Big 12 Conference in negative play percentage at 8.2%, which measures runs resulting in negative yardage.
“That’s one of the special things about this team is we have a lot of young guys who have veteran mentalities, and that comes from the coaches,” Anderson said.
That mark is 2.4% better than league average.
The Longhorns have allowed just eleven sacks through seven games, fourth-best in the Big 12. UT has been successful on 79.1% of their “Gotta Have It” situations (3rd/4th and short and Goal to Go situations), 8% better than the Big 12 average.
“Improving unit that plays with more force than finesse,” the committee said about the Texas offensive line. “Still a work in progress from technique standpoint but getting better. Have leaned more heavily on the OL and running game since second half of USC. Physical identity has led them to three victories over ranked opponents including OU.”
These units have gained the attention of the Joe Moore Award voting committee, as it moves closer to announcing the selection of semi finalists on Nov. 20 and finalists on Dec. 4. Selection of the 2018 Joe Moore Award winner will be made public after a surprise visit to the winning university’s campus in late December.
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