Three questions for Kyle Flood ahead of the 2025 season

Tomorrow, Texas will do something it typically does once per year: make Steve Sarkisian‘s coordinators available to the media.

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Sarkisian, like Nick Saban, prefers to be the person who gets asked about decisions not only on offense, but also on defense and special teams. That’s in order for him to provide one unifying message from his program, but it’s also a courtesy to his coordinators to shield them from having to deal with the media every week.

But all that said, offensive coordinator Kyle Flood, defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks handle the time spent under scrutiny well. A few years ago, Kwiatkowski was candid enough to reply “what pass rush?” when asked about the Longhorns’ inability to get to the quarterback in the 2021 season.

Focusing on Flood, the Longhorns’ offensive coordinator and offensive line coach has had a lot of good things to talk about over the past few years. Players like Kelvin Banks and Christian Jones come to mind. So too do times fighting for spots among college football’s elite.

After putting three draft picks and an undrafted free agent into the league after last year, Flood has the unique responsibility of finding their replacements and working to elevate the Texas offense to a point to where it can get past the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

So what would be nice to hear from Flood?

How do you replace Kelvin Banks?

Flood would probably, and without snark, say “you can’t,” when it comes to replacing quite possibly the best offensive lineman in school history. But he has to try.

The man who is going to be tasked with playing left tackle and protecting Arch Manning‘s blindside is Trevor Goosby.

Goosby has already stood in for Banks. Last year, the 6-foot-7, 312-pounder played 150 snaps against Texas A&M and Georgia in Banks’ stead. After those two games, Goosby played 109 snaps at right tackle in place of Cam Williams in CFP games versus Clemson and Arizona State. His pass blocking was magnificent on both sides as he allowed only five pressures across those 259 snaps.

But his run blocking left a little to be desired, especially in comparison to the unanimous first-team All-American, Outland Trophy, and Lombardi Award winner.

For Flood, how does he get the most from Goosby as soon as possible to make sure Manning feels comfortable in the pocket? How does he continue to help Goosby develop as a run blocker? Pro Football Focus grades aren’t the be all and end all, but there’s a clear difference in what Goosby was able to earn from PFF’s graders for run blocking when comparing Goosby versus Group of Five opponents and versus Power Four opponents.

Flood is no stranger to having to keep the assembly line going, but he’ll be replacing one of his best pupils ever in his efforts to make sure the offensive machine doesn’t stop.

Is someone ready at right tackle?

At SEC Media Days, Sarkisian mentioned that Brandon Baker is coming along and has performed well during the spring and summer. As it turns out, Baker is the only strong candidate for a spot in the starting five that is not at least a third- or fourth-year player. Everyone else has been in the pipeline for a while.

Baker is in contention because of his top-50 skill set. A true sophomore who played in eight games last year, Baker finished the 2024 cycle as the No. 34 overall prospect in the Rivals Industry Ranking.

But Baker did not pull away during spring ball and in the summer. While it’ll probably be No. 73 (Baker) marching out first at right tackle, he’ll have to contend with redshirt sophomore Andre Cojoe and true freshman Nick Brooks for the spot. Most of the spots on the offensive line have decent ideas of who will be there come week one, but camp still has to happen.

The main competition on the O-line will be at right tackle, since Baker’s hold on the role is the least sure thing of the five spots.

What will it all look like?

Flood is the offensive coordinator, but he doesn’t call plays. That’s Sarkisian’s job. Still, Sarkisian has to oversee the entire program and can’t just focus his efforts on preparing for Saturdays’ offensive responsibilities on a weekly basis.

That means Flood has to help Sarkisian figure out what type of systems will work best for Texas in 2025. That doesn’t only mean in the leadup to a game, that means in the offseason. That means looking at the roster and figuring out what the best course of action is.

With a different profile of O-linemen available in 2025, and many of them fitting nicely into Flood’s “big humans” social media tagline, gap schemes may be what Texas uses a bit more of in 2025 compared to in previous years. That doesn’t mean they’ll abandon zone principles, but don’t be surprised to see players like Neto Umeozulu, DJ Campbell, or even Goosby pulling around the corner to try to clear a gap.

After several years of zone focus, will the gap shift come easy? What might the growing pains look like? Who does that benefit most? Are backs like CJ Baxter, Quintrevion Wisner, Christian Clark, and Jerrick Gibson going to be able to take advantage of a more point-and-shoot style of running?

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This is one of the keys for Texas on the ground this season.