Texas enters 2025 with the kind of spotlight that never seems to leave Austin, and that’s before the first snap of the regular season. The Longhorns are carrying a heavy target again, but this roster looks built to handle it. Arch Manning is back for another year at quarterback, and the defensive line has a chance to rank among the nation’s best.
Still, if Texas wants to turn all that promise into a national championship push, one part of the roster has to come together fast: the offensive line.
Steve Sarkisian had to rebuild the starting group, and while there’s real talent returning, the Longhorns are also leaning on two transfer additions who will be asked to step in right away. Trevor Goosby is back at left tackle, and Connor Robertson returns at center, giving Texas a strong backbone up front. But the new faces matter here, too.
Melvin Siani, who came over from Wake Forest, is expected to handle the right tackle spot. That’s a major jump in competition, and the SEC is a different animal than the ACC.
On the other side, Laurence Seymore is the projected left guard after stops at Western Kentucky, Akron, and Miami. He’s making the leap from the C-USA to the SEC, which makes fall camp a key proving ground for him.
That’s where the concern lives. It’s one thing to bring in transfer help; it’s another to count on those players to become immediate starters at premium positions. Texas can do that only if the group starts to click quickly.
The good news for the Longhorns is that they won’t be asking those newcomers to figure it out alone. Goosby is viewed as a potential first round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, and Robertson is a senior who should help steady the unit.
The talent is there. The question is how fast the line can build the kind of chemistry that makes everything else work. Offensive lines don’t usually become trustworthy overnight, and that’s especially true when new pieces are trying to learn the system on the fly.
If Texas gets that part right, the offense should be in solid shape. And if the new starters settle in the way the Longhorns need them to, this team has every reason to think big about a deep College Football Playoff run.
In Other News...
Texas May Have Finally Found The Backfield Arch Manning Needed
Texas spent the offseason reworking its backfield, and the shape of it now looks a lot more balanced around Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers. Brown arrived from Arizona State and gave the Longhorns the kind of burst and pass-catching presence that keeps a defense honest, while Smothers brings the downhill production and steady efficiency that can make a run game feel less one-dimensional. For a team trying to make life easier on Arch Manning, that kind of pairing matters.
The appeal goes beyond the top two names, too. Brown and Smothers give Texas a legitimate 1-2 punch, but the Longhorns also have Derrek Cooper and Michael Terry in the mix as young depth pieces who can develop into rotation options. If the room holds up the way it looks on paper, Texas may finally have the kind of backfield balance that lets the offense stay on schedule instead of leaning too heavily on the quarterback to create everything. [Read more 🡒]
Where Texas Portal Departures Are Suddenly Getting Another Shot
Texas spent the offseason watching a sizable chunk of its defensive depth chart and one specialist move on through the transfer portal, and the next stop for those players has already started to take shape. For a program that expects to reload every year, the more interesting part now is not just who left, but how quickly several of those departures found situations where they should matter right away.
A few of the exits were always going to land in places where opportunity was waiting, including at programs that need experienced help and are willing to give it. One of the seven departures was a starter for Texas, while others are stepping into spots where they are projected to be key pieces or even immediate starters, which says plenty about how the Longhorns roster churn is being viewed elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Awaits Final Word In Massive WR Recruiting Battle
Monshun Sales is set to put an end to one of the most closely watched wide receiver recruitments in the country, with the five-star prospect planning to announce his college commitment Friday, June 17, live on the Pat McAfee Show. Texas is among the finalists, along with Alabama, Ohio State, Indiana and LSU, and the Longhorns have remained in the mix as several heavyweight programs have made late pushes for the elite pass catcher.
For Texas, the timing makes this one especially interesting. The Longhorns have been working to stay aggressive in a battle that could come down to the wire, with Indiana long viewed as the hometown school and one of the programs that had held the edge for much of the process. However it breaks, Sales decision will be a major one for a recruiting race that has drawn attention from across the sport. [Read more 🡒]