We have seen Texas have troubles in the trenches before. After the 2009 National Championship, head coach Mack Brown made changes to the offensive line strategy. That lead to the 2010-2022 period known as the Texas trench tragedy. No offensive linemen was drafted from 2008-2018. Texas hasn’t had an offensive lineman drafted in round 1 since 2002. No offensive linemen were drafted in the Steve Sarkisian era until Christian Jones in round 5 of his third year at Texas. Texas is on the cusp of a defensive trenches tragedy.
Texas Defensive Trenches Tragedy
With Texas headed to the SEC, is Texas headed towards a trench tragedy on the defensive side of the ball? The success Bo Davis has had since returning to the college game is almost all gone. He had bought in six players: Byron Murphy became a 1st round pick. Two others have transferred out of the program. The other three don’t seem to have a good outlook for playing time and development at Texas. As Texas goes big game hunting every year they continue to miss on the top defensive lineman in the country. High school recruiting numbers have dwindled to zero this cycle (In mid-July). The transfer portal can only supplement for so long as the quality can’t be depended on every year.
Texas Recruiting Problems
Coach Kenny Baker who arrived late due to the NFL playoffs started behind on the class with five months before most guys start official visits. The in-state recruiting for Texas is not up to the standards of the staff leading to Kenny Baker depending on another national recruiting class for the position. With more time to develop relationships with players, families and high school coaches in areas Texas likes to target. The staff always recruit until the end, but only five players were brought in for official visits. Two of the top targets are most likely locked into LSU, with two others going to Oregon and Florida State. DJ Sanders from Belleville, Texas is the last viable uncommitted option. Then Texas will lean on trying to flip committed players, never an ideal scenario.
Conclusion
To conclude, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian may want to put more emphasis on personally recruiting the defensive line in 2026 and beyond. His personal recruiting is a big reason why 5-star Ryan Wingo from Missouri decided to come to Texas instead of his home state SEC school. A big reason for failure with Charlie Strong and Tom Herman was the Texas trench tragedy. Steve Sarkisian needs to avoid his own trench tragedy on the defensive side. Especially with the move to the SEC, the defensive trenches will be more important than ever before.
2025 Offensive Recruiting Targets for the Texas Longhorns – Texas Talk (texas-talk.com)
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