Although the Texas Longhorns are replacing four of five starters along the offensive line heading into the 2025 season, the only unresolved position battle in the trenches as preseason camp started last week is between sophomore Brandon Baker and redshirt sophomore Andre Cojoe.
“Definitely going to be a camp battle, for sure,” Texas offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood said last Tuesday.
Because the Longhorns didn’t hold an Orange-White game to cap spring practice this year, there
isn’t as much public insight into the battle at right tackle as usual, but the portion of practice open to the media last Wednesday did feature Baker taking first-team reps, some critical perspective into the status of the competition.
“Baker, he’s a real technician — he’s really patient and he’s a really smooth player. I just continue to tell him, just keep working hard every day, just keep going into little things, because little things, really, they change you as a player,” junior left tackle Trevor Goosby said on Thursday.
Senior Jack end Ethan Burke also praised Baker’s fundamentals, a trait that combined with his intelligence and prototypical frame to help the Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei prospect finish the 2024 cycle as a consensus five-star prospect ranked as the No. 2 offensive tackle, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
At 6’6 with a plus wingspan, Burke is difficult to deal with as a pass rusher, but he admitted that he’s often frustrated going against Baker, who can work his hand placement on Burke’s ribs to stymie the senior’s pass-rushing attempts by negating his length.
“It pisses me off sometimes, but he’s really good at it,” Burke said.
Like the departed Kelvin Banks, Baker combines his physical traits and intelligence with ideal work habits.
“Just a smart player and really hard worker, always here after getting extra work. He’s always in the weight room. I’ll say that after practice, he’s usually the only guy putting in extra work and getting extra recovery. So for him, that’s really helped bring his game to another level,” Burke said.
The fact that Cojoe has received less attention from the media during the early availabilities helps to handicap the position battle. A 6’6, 335-pounder from Mansfield Timberview, Cojoe has more experience, but is a similar age to Baker after enrolling early as a member of the 2023 recruiting class when he had just turned 17. Considered a consensus three-star prospect ranked as the No. 823 overall player and No. 71 interior offensive lineman, the expectations haven’t been as high for Cojoe based on his limited recruiting pedigree.
But Cojoe has matured physically and mentally, dropping 20 pounds while reshaping his body over the last several years.
“I think both those guys have changed their bodies, improved their skill sets, and we’ll figure out during training camp how that all plays out,” Flood said.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian compared playing right tackle to cornerback because mistakes are catastrophic — for cornerbacks, busted or insufficient coverage results in touchdowns, and for right tackles, poor pass sets result in sacks or sack fumbles.
“So I want to see a level of consistency out of those guys at right tackle,” Sarkisian said on Wednesday.
The staff is also trying to get more physical play out of Baker and Cojoe, an area that wasn’t particularly a strength for Baker in high school.
“For both those guys, what we’re pushing them to do is get out of their shell, get out of their comfort zone, play a little more nasty, if you want to be honest. And I think we saw that today, which was encouraging,” Sarkisian said.
Although Baker is the favorite to win the job, the certainty is that both right tackles will be forged in the crucible of facing off in practice against an elite group of edge defenders that includes Burke and sophomore rising star Colin Simmons, both backed by quality depth.
“I think one of the advantages we have is we’re going to play against a really talented edge group in training camp. I think these guys are going to get challenged on it on a day-to-day basis. I know it’s going to come fast, but right now we’re at the beginning of it, so both guys are going to go out and compete, and we’ll see how it plays out through training camp,” Flood said.
During the first practice, it played out with some feistiness between the right tackles and the edge defenders.
“Ethan Burke will do that to you, right? Colin will do that to you — they prod you a little bit,” Sarkisian said. “That might have been a little intentional because we want to see how they are going to respond when the real fire is going? Like I said, not in pads, but I thought they responded pretty well today.”
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- DeAndre Moore describes the differences between Arch Manning and Quinn Ewers
- Texas Longhorns Fall Camp Roundtable: Right Tackle Battle, Defensive Line Depth, and Key Position Rankings Ahead of Ohio State Showdown
- Why Matthew Caldwell has an edge in the Texas backup QB competition
- LT Trevor Goosby stepping into leadership role for Texas
- Jaylon Guilbeau hoping to replicate Jahdae Barron’s successful transition from Star to CB
- Notes and observations from Wednesday’s Texas practice and Steve Sarkisian’s availability
- Kyle Flood is excited about Ryan Niblett’s return to WR for Texas
