Texas Longhorns Football Report Card: Offensive Line

We continue our Texas Longhorns Football Report Card with the offensive line.

Perhaps no unit was more maligned than the offensive line. Most of the criticism was deserving, but this group also had its fair share of bad luck.

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The line’s problems began in the offseason when tackle Josh Cochran had to give up football due to chronic shoulder problems. Cochran had 23 starts under his belt. This would have given him the second-most starts going into the 2014 season.

Things got worse after just one game when center Dominic Espinosa broke his ankle and was ruled out for the remainder of the year. Espinosa had made 40 starts at center, and was responsible for making the line calls. He had been the unquestioned leader of the group throughout spring and fall drills. Losing Espinosa was probably the second-biggest loss next to David Ash.

Some problems, however, were self-inflicted. Tackles Desmond Harrison and Kennedy Estelle were suspended to start the season, leaving the Longhorns desperately thin along the line after Espinosa’s injury. Neither would see the field in 2014 – Harrison redshirting, while Estelle would be dismissed from the team in September.

Texas Longhorns /

Texas Longhorns

Losing four players who should be starting was too much for the offensive line to overcome. There simply was no depth with this group. Jake Raulerson failed at center before being moved to guard. Curtis Riser never lived up to his high school hype and was buried on the bench. Marcus Hutchins moved from defensive tackle to left tackle. You know you have depth problems when your best option to protect your quarterback’s blind side is a guy you just moved from the other side of the ball.

The line seemed to stabilize when Taylor Doyle transitioned from tackle to center and Kent Perkins slid down to guard. But the line play was still not to the standard Texas fans expect.

Texas could only run the ball against the weaker Big 12 defenses. Kansas State, TCU and Arkansas manhandled this group. Tyrone Swoopes often had little time to go through his reads. A young quarterback like Swoopes needs to feel comfortable in the pocket so he keeps his head up and eyes down field. Too many times Swoopes would drop his eyes and look for the rushers rather than scanning the secondary for receivers breaking open.

I don’t imagine this is what Joe Wickline expected when he signed on to coach this group. Still, Wickline was able to get many of the young players on the field for valuable game experience. This should hopefully bode well for 2015. It certainly can’t be as bad as the 2014 season went.

Grade: D-

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