Texas has an immediate starter at OG in 5-Star Devon Campbell

The decision that Texas football fans around the country were waiting for on National Signing Day 2022 went in their favor with the elite five-star Bowie interior offensive lineman Devon Campbell. Texas landed a commitment from Campbell on the afternoon of Feb. 2 to put a cap on their 2022 class on National Signing Day.

It feels like it’s been so long now that we’ve talked about Campbell potentially landing with the Longhorns that it’s nice to say that his commitment is now official. Campbell is definitely an amazing finishing touch to the Longhorns 2022 class that miraculously rallied to command national prominence since the days leading up to the Early Signing Period back in December.

Second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian and offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood did a really nice job addressing some positional needs along the O-Line since the first signing period with the 2022 class. The offensive and defensive lines are definitely the highlighting groups in the 2022 class.

But Campbell pushes the offensive line over the top as the top group in the 2022 signing class.

Texas football officially reels in the commitment of 5-Star IOL Devon Campbell

What really makes the addition of the 6-foot-3 and 310-pound in-state product Campbell special for the Longhorns is the fact that he looks like he should be a day-one starter. The way Campbell has shown off his talents in combines and showcases in the last few months, he looks like he is ready to contribute right away for the Longhorns.

Campbell is going to come in and right away compete for starting reps along the Texas offensive line. He’s likely to play at one of the guard spots for Texas in 2022. If rising senior Junior Angilau is set to stay at left guard in 2022, I would expect Campbell to be able to start right away opposite of him at right guard.

But the good thing with Campbell is that he also stood out as an offensive tackle with Arlington-Bowie during his high school football career. It looks like he projects as a natural fit at offensive guard, but he can play at almost every spot along the offensive line.

Campbell will be such a good fit opposite of Angilau at offensive guard thanks to the push he gets right off the snap at the line of scrimmage. His motor is non-stop. At times, he looks like some sort of an overpowering magnet that can push through multiple levels into opposing defenses.

He’s really polished in blocking for the run. But he’s also got great hands, footwork, and overwhelming power in pass-blocking too. He’s got some technique that can be improved in pass-blocking, but that will come with time.

Flood is an excellent offensive line coach and should be able to develop Campbell’s footwork playing at offensive guard pretty quick. Campbell is an excellent athlete that showed a ton of growth and maturity in his game in the last few years with Bowie. He was a multi-sport athlete that played football, basketball, and some track and field events in high school.

All signs point to his skill set being able to translate well to the collegiate level pretty fast.

Campbell is an excellent addition to the Longhorns offensive line. And he’s one of the few additions that could be starting right away in 2022 as Flood looks to build a new foundation for his position group in the trenches.

Going off what the Longhorns have on the projected roster for 2022 at this moment, I would expect Campbell and Angilau to start at the two guard spots along with rising redshirt sophomore Jake Majors at center, either Neto Umeozulu or Andrej Karic at right tackle, and either Kelvin Banks or Christian Jones at left tackle. A lot of this depends on how things play out in spring and fall camp with the incoming freshmen.

After hauling in a commitment from Campbell, Texas now has 28 signees in the 2022 class. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class ranks at No. 5 in the nation and in the top spot in the Big 12 ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners.