Skip to main content
Join Now
Get a profile. Be recruited.
Default AvatarTexas - IT Members Only
Avatar
IanBoydJan 15, 3:38 PM

What does a championship offensive line look like?

During the 2020 Alabama championship season, I at one point expressed some doubt about whether Steve Sarkisiancould maintain the same level of dominance at the next program that inevitably hired him as head coach based off the 2020 results. I had no idea that program would be Texas. My question was whether the new program would be able to build an offensive line that could control games and buy time for the passer like the 2020 Tide. That unit had first rounders at either tackle position, a 2nd rounder at center, and a pair of late round/UDFA players at the guard spots. How would Sark's next program reach that same level? Sure enough, the Longhorns have struggled to consistently recruit and develop an O-line of that caliber, although 2024 was reasonably close. The transfer portal is opening up new possibilities on that front, but it's still difficult. Do the Horns even need to assemble a unit that talented and skilled to win a National Championship? What does a championship offensive line look like in the new portal era? Well, this Monday we're about to add our second example for study from one of two options. https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/news/what-does-a-championship-offensive-line-look-like/
44 Replies
Avatar

30 straight

Jan 15, 3:48 PM

Great work, Ian.
Avatar

theelusiveshadow

Jan 15, 3:54 PM

A lite version of that 2020 Alabama line would be nice: Potential first rounder at LT (Goosby), mid rounder at RT (Baker), and non-draft pick but experienced guy at C. If we get Seaton, it would make the line even closer to that Alabama front. I haven't been super concerned about finding starting level guards in the portal. I think they'll get them, though it would be nice if they landed one soon to make us all feel better. I'm more concerned about depth. If a starter goes down, I don't like the options right now because they're all inexperienced. Maybe that's just how an OL room has to be though in this new age. An experienced guy sitting on the bench will either command too much money or find more money/playing time elsewhere, since OL don't usually rotate very much.
Avatar

325horn_SATX

Jan 15, 3:56 PM

Good read. My first thought was definitely Miami, but it’s good to know you can build a championship line with a variety of players. They don’t need to be All-Conference. They just need to fit the broader offensive scheme.
Avatar

HunterBradford

Jan 15, 3:58 PM

I love your articles, @IanBoyd. As soon as I read the headline I thought to myself, "That's a good question" because the answer, for some people, is assumed to be big, strong and highly recruited. It seems to me that Texas' vision for OL - stockpiling OT's, emphasizing multiplicity rather than simplicity - has a higher ceiling, but a lower floor every year.
Avatar

FlankHerRight

Jan 15, 4:01 PM

I was about to post on Miami OL and IU OL but I read your stuff before posting. I read quite a bit about Bob Bostad and Wisc/IU OLs since LG Brunner went in the portal. Appreciate your OL breakdown of Miami and Indiana. Well done Ian.
Avatar

taxsaver

Jan 15, 4:04 PM

The answer is easy: Look at Indiana. THAT'S what a championship OL looks like. No one else in college is remotely close to Indiana.
Avatar

Sii

Jan 15, 4:05 PM

Avatar

seghorn

Jan 15, 4:05 PM

The biggest reason I like the addition of another tackle is because of what we saw with OSU last season. OT injury and slide a very good tackle out from guard. You can have depth and maximize at the same time. Very hard to carry three starting level tackles with one being a bench player.
Avatar

melanconrd0917

Jan 15, 4:09 PM

325horn_SATX said:
Good read. My first thought was definitely Miami, but it’s good to know you can build a championship line with a variety of players. They don’t need to be All-Conference. They just need to fit the broader offensive scheme.
This. Fit the scheme. If you noticed Flood recruits Tackles first and the inside guys are mostly tackles in high school. If a player has the feet they can move inside. It appears Nick Brooks breaking point was his unwillingness to play guard. Just my opinion.
Avatar

theelusiveshadow

Jan 15, 4:10 PM

seghorn said:
The biggest reason I like the addition of another tackle is because of what we saw with OSU last season. OT injury and slide a very good tackle out from guard. You can have depth and maximize at the same time. Very hard to carry three starting level tackles with one being a bench player.
I really liked how Baker improved throughout the year, so if he's good with going to guard and waiting to go back to tackle after Seaton and Goosby leave, then I agree that would be the best outcome. Like you said, that would be combining quality tackle depth with the best 5, which would then have at least three future NFL players (maybe four if the other guard is also projectable to the NFL; I'm assuming that Robertson will not get drafted, though his experience will be valuable). But Texas will have to beat out a bunch of schools for Seaton. Hopefully the opportunity to block for Arch and play for a respected offensive mind will be a tiebreaker of sorts for him.
Avatar

YeeHaw

Jan 15, 4:22 PM

I'm wondering if the plan is to use the portal to bring in depth/developmental pieces and then use the Grad Transfer market to bring in the starter level upgrades. Seaton is obviously the exception. Snagging him would open up a lot of possibilities.
Avatar

Zona Horn

Jan 15, 4:31 PM

Cignetti's ability to beat the crap out of everyone with a bunch of undersized walk-ons and 3-stars that everyone else passed on is just gobsmacking. He's basically embarrassing everyone else in the profession.
Avatar

IanBoyd

Jan 15, 4:42 PM

Zona Horn said:
Cignetti's ability to beat the crap out of everyone with a bunch of undersized walk-ons and 3-stars that everyone else passed on is just gobsmacking. He's basically embarrassing everyone else in the profession.
He's embarrassing a lot of recruitniks that have always undersold the value of experience and oversold the value of raw athletic talent.
Avatar

Michael H. Pelech

Jan 15, 5:02 PM

I missed or forgot Bostad being Indiana’s OL coach. Their success makes a ton of sense now. This article makes me feel…more uneasy about our approach? Don’t have much confidence in our developmental ability and now it seems like we’re tossing out the continuity play as well.
Avatar

SlickStreet

Jan 15, 5:11 PM

IanBoyd said:
He's embarrassing a lot of recruitniks that have always undersold the value of experience and oversold the value of raw athletic talent.
I can see that being the case. Experience seems to be of even greater importance for OL guys in general. I've always thought it really vital, too, for at least a fair share of the unit to have extensive experience together. Some examples in the last year or so seem to show otherwise.
Avatar

SL-20

Jan 15, 5:21 PM

EZ answer: Scott (All American) Studdard (All Conference) Sendlein (All Conference) Allen (All American) Blalock (All American)
Avatar

sawdin

Jan 15, 5:39 PM

One major difference between Texas and OSU, Miami, and Indiana is Kyle Flood.
Avatar

harry_longfellow

Jan 15, 5:44 PM

Good read, but we’ve seen this show before, right? We’ve seen the vision and the execution and have been left wanting for several years running. There’s no new ingredient there other than a player, and he’s not responsible for setting the vision and execution. Not to be a negative Nancy, but we’re not looking for a championship line, are we? We’re looking for guys who can simply get in the way of a rusher for a couple of seconds long enough for Arch to get rid of the ball. Our vision for what we want a line to do is weird. You even said “I think” when describing it, while you were very matter of fact when describing the other two. This is no indictment on you. As an audience, we really don’t get it either. Well, here we are half a decade plus into the regime with decades of coaching experience. Maybe this year will be the one when the lightbulb 💡 comes on 😀
Avatar

veritas15

Jan 15, 5:45 PM

IanBoyd said:
During the 2020 Alabama championship season, I at one point expressed some doubt about whether Steve Sarkisiancould maintain the same level of dominance at the next program that inevitably hired him as head coach based off the 2020 results. I had no idea that program would be Texas. My question was whether the new program would be able to build an offensive line that could control games and buy time for the passer like the 2020 Tide. That unit had first rounders at either tackle position, a 2nd rounder at center, and a pair of late round/UDFA players at the guard spots. How would Sark's next program reach that same level? Sure enough, the Longhorns have struggled to consistently recruit and develop an O-line of that caliber, although 2024 was reasonably close. The transfer portal is opening up new possibilities on that front, but it's still difficult. Do the Horns even need to assemble a unit that talented and skilled to win a National Championship? What does a championship offensive line look like in the new portal era? Well, this Monday we're about to add our second example for study from one of two options. https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/news/what-does-a-championship-offensive-line-look-like/
Good stuff, Ian. HYPOTHETICAL: Texas lands Seaton, and goes into the season with Goosby, LG, Robertson, Baker, and Seaton (No idea who plays LT/RT and don’t care with that T duo). Let’s assume they pull one more G out of the portal who has more experience and has a higher floor than Sikorsky for LG and falls into the “good” category. That’s about as optimal a realistic O-line as we could possibly hope for in 2026, isn’t it? To replicate the Sark 2020 production, I mean? Having OTs 1 & 2 in the 2027 draft, two good guards and a serviceable Center (presuming CRob plays better with baseline competency on either side of him), that’s, say…80%-85% of the way to Sark’s 2020 Bama line, isn’t it? Given the triggerman is Arch who may be a bit more gifted than Mac Jones, and we’ve got Coleman and Wingo and a couple explosive RBs, it feels like this may be the year we see the Sark offense we all dreamed about when he was hired.
Avatar

harry_longfellow

Jan 15, 5:46 PM

Michael H. Pelech said:
I missed or forgot Bostad being Indiana’s OL coach. Their success makes a ton of sense now. This article makes me feel…more uneasy about our approach? Don’t have much confidence in our developmental ability and now it seems like we’re tossing out the continuity play as well.
Bostad and Cristobal. Yeah, those teams are going to have good lines.
Avatar

duffys16

Jan 15, 5:49 PM

I’m surprised they seemlingly have talked baker into moving to guard without him portaling. Especially since he was already at tackle for a year. Good on him, money is still green
Avatar

foureyes

Jan 15, 6:02 PM

Will be very interesting to see how well Cignetti is able to keep it going. Bunch of coaches have come in and taken their entire team from the previous spot with them and had early success. Obviously if this culminates in a championship it will be the best finish ever in that regard. When he has to overhaul the entire o line, play his own HS recruits and replace his coordinators that have been with him his whole career, that will be the true test of whatever his “methods” are and how effective they are/he is. This feels a little more like lightning in a bottle. In a basketball translation it’s like the 2011 Mavs. Mendoza wound up being awesome, the o line is old and gelled as well as their skill guys being somewhat over looked but have value in the system. Great defense with a bunch of savvy veterans and the team as a whole kind of hit their stride as the postseason began.
Avatar

theelusiveshadow

Jan 15, 6:16 PM

Zona Horn said:
Cignetti's ability to beat the crap out of everyone with a bunch of undersized walk-ons and 3-stars that everyone else passed on is just gobsmacking. He's basically embarrassing everyone else in the profession.
His S&C approach is also elegant in its simplicity and accordance with common sense. Much of football is about explosiveness and speed (even if generated in a small area, like short area quickness and change of direction). So he asks simple questions: "Can he bend?" And he looks for that trait, and his S&C is built towards developing and expanding on that.
Avatar

harry_longfellow

Jan 15, 6:23 PM

foureyes said:
Will be very interesting to see how well Cignetti is able to keep it going. Bunch of coaches have come in and taken their entire team from the previous spot with them and had early success. Obviously if this culminates in a championship it will be the best finish ever in that regard. When he has to overhaul the entire o line, play his own HS recruits and replace his coordinators that have been with him his whole career, that will be the true test of whatever his “methods” are and how effective they are/he is. This feels a little more like lightning in a bottle. In a basketball translation it’s like the 2011 Mavs. Mendoza wound up being awesome, the o line is old and gelled as well as their skill guys being somewhat over looked but have value in the system. Great defense with a bunch of savvy veterans and the team as a whole kind of hit their stride as the postseason began.
I’d agree with you, but he’s had four jobs and won at each place. He’s a turnaround artist with a vision and process. Now that he’s at the big boy table with actual resources, it will be interesting to see how he uses them. Process is process. It’s just math. Does the math change with a different level of players running through it? We shall see.

Thanks for checking out this free message board preview.

Join the full discussion at IT Members Only