3 takeaways from Texas's Tuesday spring practice

Left guard a significant position battle to watch in the second half of spring camp

Offensive line is easily one of the deepest and most proven position groups on either side of the ball for the Longhorns in 2024. Kyle Flood returns four of five starters along the offensive line from last year's group, including multi-year starters in left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., center Jake Majors, and left guard Hayden Conner.

As we know about Flood, though, just because someone is a returning starter doesn't mean their spot on the depth chart is safe in camp. Flood and the Longhorns will put the best group of five starters out there in the trenches along the O-Line this fall.

A position battle has opened up at left guard in the last couple of week for the Longhorns in practice. Redshirt sophomore Neto Umeozulu got the bulk of the first-team reps at left guard last week and looked good, especially in run blocking, in team drills.

While Umeozulu was taking the first-team reps at left guard in practice last week, Conner was cross-training between multiple positions along the O-Line. Conner is back to taking some first-team reps at left guard early this week in practice.

But Conner has shown his versatility and experience while taking reps at right tackle, center, and guard in the last couple of weeks. Conner brings that stability of a multi-year starter that is so valuable along the interior offensive line.

While Umeozulu has more upside as a run blocker and a real body-mover, at 6-foot-4 and 335-pounds, Conner is obviously the more proven of the two interior offensive linemen.

It will be a question of whether Conner's experience and stability along the interior offensive line can stave off Umeozulu's physical upside as a run blocker and improving proficiency in pass pro for the second half of spring ball.

Left guard should be one of the more intense position battles in the remaining eight spring practices for the Longhorns in the next few weeks.

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