Texas Football: 3 adjustments Sarkisian must make before Big 12 play
Make some personnel changes along the offensive line
There were a lot of positive signs that emerged for new offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and the Longhorns in the win over Rice last weekend. Texas looked competent along the offensive line in both pass and run blocking for the first game this season. But Texas Tech is going to come out with more force along the defensive front than Rice did.
Texas got a break before the start of Big 12 play by facing Rice in the final non-conference game of the regular season. Texas Tech has a whopping 65 quarterback pressures through the first three games of their regular season slate. That includes three sacks for the two interior defensive linemen and five additional quarterback hits and two sacks for the linebacker duo of Krishon Merriweather and Riko Jeffers.
The one weakness along the offensive line for the Longhorns still lies at the center position with sophomore Jake Majors. I’m not saying it won’t take time with Majors to get a feel for his move to center permanently in a starting role, but Texas does need more stability to anchor the offensive line.
Majors still leads the Longhorns in pressures allowed, with five on the season so far, and is the lowest graded run blocker among the five starting offensive linemen.
The other that Flood and the Longhorns could consider rotating is offensive tackle, Christian Jones. He was the lowest graded pass blocker in the win over Rice and is second-worst on the team in terms of pressures allowed.
To remedy this problem, Texas can give the start at offensive tackle to someone that has played well in limited snaps this season like Isaiah Hookfin or Hayden Conner. In 15 snaps in passing blocking between Hookfin and Conner, neither has allowed a quarterback pressure. And the two have played well in blocking for the run.
If Texas were to try and move Majors out of the starting group of offensive linemen, then you could move Derek Kerstetter or Junior Angilau back to center and bring either Hookfin or Conner in a starting role.