65 days until Texas Football: Jake Majors is Texas' man in the middle of the O-line
Inside Texas is putting a new twist on long-time photographer Will Gallagher’s time-honored countdown to Texas football kickoff. In addition to Will’s great pictures, the Inside Texas staff will go through every player on the roster by jersey number and offer a season outlook on each, from five-star to walk-on.
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We’ll also look back at other greats to wear that day’s number, with special reverence to some of Texas’ best.
Today is 65 days until kickoff. No. 65 for the Longhorns this season will be worn by Jake Majors, a junior offensive lineman.
Jake Majors season outlook
At the end of the 2020 campaign after Derek Kerstetter went down with a leg injury, Jake Majors stepped into the center position and was a significant part of Bijan Robinson‘s burst onto the national scene. Majors held the center position in 2021 and, even though some preseason tinkering in 2022’s training camp had others repping at the position, Majors got the nod in the middle of the line for the entire campaign.
Kyle Flood may tinker during the summer again, but Majors will be tough to unseat from a spot he’s held for two full seasons. According to PFF, Majors was a far better pass blocker than run blocker. He had a season-long grade of 81.3 pass blocking while his run blocking grade was 58.5. Improvement by Majors in the run game for 2023’s stable of unproven backs will be integral to the success of Steve Sarkisian‘s offense.
Another PFF stat that showed Majors’ prowess in pass pro was the amount of pressures he surrendered in 2022. Only nine all year times did someone get through the middle of the O-line to affect the quarterback. That’s not only a testament to his ability physically, but also mentally as the “quarterback of the O-line” in making calls and identifying stunts that gave Texas problems in previous seasons.
A leadership figure on the team, Majors will be an important part of Texas’ successes this year barring someone(s) making a preseason camp surge that knocks him off of the first five. How much he excels will be determined by his run blocking ability.
Majors has played in 28 games with 27 starts including all 13 games last season at center. The early enrollee was an Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection in 2021 and 2022 and is a six-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (spring 2020, fall 2020, spring 2021, fall 2021, spring 2022, fall 2022).
Jake Majors as a recruit
Majors was ranked as the No. 259 overall prospect, the No. 10 interior offensive lineman, and the No. 38 prospect in Texas in the 2020 On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.
Recent player to wear No. 65: Marcus Hutchins
Hutchins played in 15 games and spent time as both an offensive and defensive lineman in his five seasons on the 40 Acres. He emerged as a starter at offensive tackle in 2014, when had 13 starts (12 at left tackle/one right tackle) before returning to primarily a reserve role in 2015. He moved from offensive line to defensive tackle in the 2013 preseason and switched back to offensive line during the 2014 preseason.
Joe Cook co-authored this story
