Keep up with the full series:
-The importance of wide receivers
-Ranking of the league's receivers
-The importance of left tackles
Here’s what the league has in the pipelines at left tackle for 2020. Remember that the rankings are based on the left tackles in particular, I include the notes on infrastructure and conjecture on the overall lineup because that sets the floor for the unit. The ceiling is set by the left tackle.
If we ranked the overall units things would fall out differently. Instead we’re ranking first a team’s left tackle and secondly their depth and capacity for replacing him in the event of an injury or positive COVID test. Take note of the infrastructure notes though and if you like we can debate how those rankings would shape up in the comments. Spoiler alert, Oklahoma would be no. 1.
No. 1: Texas
Left tackle: Sam Cosmi
Contingencies: Denzel Okafor, Derek Kerstetter, Christian Jones
In all likelihood, Sam Cosmi will leave after his junior year in 2020 and be drafted somewhere between the 1st and 3rd round depending on how he tests and measures at the combine. He’s a great athlete and technician, we’ll see how his wingspan measures. If he's 6-5 or better and the wingspan even longer, he'll go high. If he's 6-5 with a 6-5 wingspan, perhaps he'll slip out of the first round.
Derek Kerstetter isn’t the same level of athlete (though he’s a strong one) but is a strong technician that graded well in pass protection in 2019 as the right tackle. For 2020 he’ll slide inside and start at center. Denzel Okafor played some left tackle for Texas in 2017 when they were desperate after injuries to Connor Williams and Elijah Rodriguez. He flashed some potential but was abused in pass protection and eventually benched in despair. Then he redshirted in 2018 and played some spot duty right tackle in 2019 where he showed he’d come a fair way in his technique..
Christian Jones is another high level athlete at 6-6, 300 that Texas pulled as a raw athlete from a Wing-T offense in the Houston Metroplex. He’s still coming along and is currently the sixth O-lineman. When he's in they slide Okafor inside to guard whereas when Isaiah Hookfin plays, Okafor is outside at right tackle.
Sam Cosmi is the class of the league and while Texas isn't stacked with great left tackles behind him, they may have as many as three other guys that can play it at a passable level in Kerstetter, Okafor, and Jones.
Infrastructure check
From left tackle to center, Texas is as strong as any team in the conference. The Oklahoma’s are bigger across those spots but the Texas group is the most athletic. The right side is going to depend on Okafor having a big senior year and then solid growth from some up and coming young players on the team that will surely need some time to find themselves.
Prospective lineup
LT: Sam Cosmi: 6-6, 309. RS junior. 3-star from HOU
LG: Junior Angilau: 6-6, 295. RS sophomore. 4-star from UT
C: Derek Kerstetter: 6-5, 293. Senior. 3-star from CTX
RG: Isaiah Hookfin: 6-5, 314. RS freshman. 4-star from HOU
RG: Denzel Okafor: 6-3, 317. RS senior. 4-star from DFW
No. 2: Oklahoma
Left tackle: Adrian Ealy
Contingencies: Anton Harrison, Stacey Wilkins, Erik Swenson, Tyrese Robinson
Adrian Ealy had a really strong 2019 as the right tackle now has had a reportedly great offseason. He's the most likely guy to end up starting at left tackle in the fall. He excelled on the edge in the run game last year and had a few moments as a puller on their GT counter schemes, but was too beat up to be consistently good all year. A healthier Ealy is their best returning tackle from 2019 and thus the most likely starter for 2020. He was strong in space and changing direction a year ago, if he’s improved his kick step from 2019 then he could be fantastic here.
There were whispers around the program last year that Stacey Wilkins might be good and talented enough to step in and solve some of their issues but they preserved his redshirt. He’s a future option at left tackle but is now fending off true freshman Anton Harrison, the exciting new talent. I don’t hear much about Erik Swenson, who started last year when healthy and had some struggles. I wonder if he’s still battling some injuries. Tyrese Robinson filled in at right tackle in a few games when Ealy was out and was a very steady player there. If UCLA transfer Chris Murray is eligible to play at guard this season I expect Robinson to start at right tackle.
Like Texas, the Sooners have one great option and then a number of solid fallbacks. The future in Norman at left tackle post-2020 is brighter than in Austin but so long as Cosmi is around Texas has the edge.
Infrastructure check
For years now, Oklahoma has dominated the Big 12 by being the most Big 12y team, embracing the shootout style and carrying more bullets into the battle than anyone else. That’s included having an offensive line that can dominate light boxes in the run game as part of a balanced but pass-first approach on offense. In 2019 they won the league with iffy tackle play but an overwhelming interior line. For 2020 they return all of those pieces and add UCLA transfer Chris Murray. This is going to be a tough team to stop in the run game when this group is paired with their fullbacks and play-action passing game.
This is basically a comparable unit to the OSU O-line in that it’s massive and mauling on the left side, but then with an NFL pick rather than a walk-on at center and two more stars on the right side rather than youngsters thrown to the wolves.
Prospective lineup
LT: Adrian Ealy: 6-6, 327. RS junior. 4-star from LA
LG: Marquis Hayes: 6-5, 349. RS junior. 4-star from MO
OC: Creed Humphrey: 6-5, 320. Senior. 4-star from OK
RG: Chris Murray: 6-3, 297. Junior. 4-star from CA/UCLA transfer
RT: Tyrese Robinson: 6-3, 335. RS junior. 4-star from DFW
No. 3: Baylor
Left tackle: Connor Galvin
Contingencies: Jake Burton, Casey Phillips
Baylor has three guys that have started games for them at tackle and demonstrated some legitimate athleticism and now add UCLA transfer Jake Burton. What they’ve lacked is development and technique, both because they're all young and inexperienced and also because they haven’t had high level instruction yet. Galvin will be a true junior, Casey Phillips is a redshirt junior that was pressed into action in 2019 when Galvin was hurt, they also were using Blake Bedier here until recently who was a very raw athlete and new to football. The raw materials here are arguably some of the best in the league but they have a ways to go and a shortened window of time in which to get there.
Overall the line is certainly a question mark after some shaky appearances in 2019, but many of those occurred without Galvin who’s one of the most proven tackles in the league. Charlie Brewer was sacked 31 times in 2019 and 16 of them (about half) occurred in the four games that Galvin missed. They took some sacks in other games as well, Galvin hasn’t yet been an early day draft pick at tackle, but he’s pretty good and was miles better than the alternatives.
Infrastructure check
Baylor was not good on the offensive line under Matt Rhule. Their strongest stretch was actually the back half of 2018 when Connor Galvin stabilized their protection and the right side had a trio of veteran seniors in Sam Tecklenburg, Blake Blackmar and Pat Lawrence that made their zone run game work. When those guys graduated they slipped badly in 2019 despite plugging in some solid athletes like Bedier and Phillips. This group is getting older, and bigger, and has received some praise from the staff. It’s hard to be confident though that they’ll be legitimately good until we see it. Perhaps the best guess is that they’ll grow considerably over the course of the season because there is some real talent.
Prospective lineup
LT: Connor Galvin: 6-6, 310. Junior. 3-star from HOU
LG: Khalil Keith: 6-5, 320. RS sophomore. 3-star from AL
C: Xavier Newman: 6-2, 307. Senior. 4-star from DFW
RG: Blake Bedier: 6-5, 300. Senior. 3-star from UT/UT JUCO
RT: Jake Burton: 6-6, 312. RS senior. 3-star from CA/UCLA transfer
No. 4: Iowa State
Left tackle: Joey Ramos
Contingencies: Grant Treiber, Sean Foster
This is one of the most crucial space force units in the league that could dictate who plays in the Big 12 Championship Game. As many other teams are probably contemplating doing right now, the Cyclones made the choice in 2018 to move their best athlete Julian Good-Jones to left tackle even though he was at his best inside. That solidified the position for them at a passable level but now he’s gone. Sean Foster started games at right tackle in 2018 but was mostly benched in 2019 for Good-Jones and Bryce Meeker, both of whom are now gone. Judging by Matt Campbell's comments, Foster seems to have taken to heart that 2020 is his last chance to make the most of his football career.
The real buzz in the program is around redshirt freshman Grant Treiber and redshirt sophomore Joey Ramos, the latter of whom was Good-Jones’ understudy in 2019.
Treiber is the better pure athlete and at 6-6, 295 has prototypical size and length for the position. Ramos is listed at 6-5, 310 and isn’t the same level of athlete but has a high level of coordination and punch and has drawn positive reviews. He could be a natural technician that plays like a veteran early in his career, that’s the hope anyways. In limited snaps in relief of Julian Good-Jones in 2019, Ramos checked off a few boxes. He's large and moves well both in the run game and in pass protection.
Infrastructure check
Things are good here, Iowa State’s recruiting of big Midwesterners for the last few years in Ames showed up faster on the interior than outside. The Cyclones have a pair of interior linemen that are quite good and got started early in their career in Collin Newell and Trevor Downing. Newell can play center or guard so they also have some flexibility in how they fill out their lineup. Downing was their best lineman in 2019 as a redshirt freshman. Beyond those two the team has a few additional massive, upperclassman Midwesterners (Rob Hudson, 6-6/320 and Jake Remsburg, 6-6/315) coming up the ranks. The question marks are really all at tackle given how much dropback passing this team does.
Prospective lineup
LT: Joey Ramos: 6-5, 303. RS sophomore. 3-star from AZ
LG: Trevor Downing: 6-4, 314. RS sophomore. 3-star from IA
C: Derek Schweiger: 6-3, 311. RS junior. Walk-on from WI
RG: Collin Newell: 6-4, 304. RS junior. 3-star from IA
RT: Sean Foster: 6-8, 318. RS senior. 3-star from IL
No. 5: TCU
Left tackle: Austin Myers
Contingencies: DJ Storment, Andrew Coker, Brandon Coleman
Austin Myers is the rare, 4-star tackle prospect signed by a non-OU/TX team and he’s played a lot of football for the Frogs but primarily inside at guard up until now. He has real athleticism and change of direction but he’s been at his best translating it on the edge with screens and spread run game rather than dropback pass protection. With a leap in technical savvy he could have an important senior year, he’ll be good in the run/screen game either way.
Grad transfer DJ Storment is a pretty solid football player, ideally at right tackle but he’s done more in his career thus far (at Colorado State) than many of the other guys on this list. Redshirt freshman Andrew Coker rounds out the list, a big and talented player that was raw coming out of high school but has a lot of tools. The 247 guys seem to think Coker is ahead of Storment, which is indicative of TCU choosing youthful upside over experience and/or Coker figuring things out on a pretty accelerated timeline.
Infrastructure check
The Frogs are fairly young and starting second or third year players at almost every position. The entire program is clearly orienting around the 2021 season, especially now that Max Duggan is expected to miss some amount of the 2020 season. The Frogs have some talent but, like much of the league, they tend to be pretty developmental in their process. In other words, they don’t recruit many players that are ready to be great as underclassmen and they haven’t had the 2019 bowl practices or spring to do their normal work. The outlook here isn’t that great, but there’s above average talent (upside) relative to the greater league.
Prospective lineup
LT: Austin Myers: 6-5, 303. RS senior. 4-star from HOU
LG: John Lanz: 6-3, 311. Sophomore. 3-star from DFW
C: Esteban Avila: 6-4, 314. RS sophomore. 3-star from DFW
RG: Quazzel White: 6-3, 317. RS sophomore. 3-star from WS
RT: Andrew Coker: 6-7, 326. RS freshman. 3-star from HOU
-The importance of wide receivers
-Ranking of the league's receivers
-The importance of left tackles
Here’s what the league has in the pipelines at left tackle for 2020. Remember that the rankings are based on the left tackles in particular, I include the notes on infrastructure and conjecture on the overall lineup because that sets the floor for the unit. The ceiling is set by the left tackle.
If we ranked the overall units things would fall out differently. Instead we’re ranking first a team’s left tackle and secondly their depth and capacity for replacing him in the event of an injury or positive COVID test. Take note of the infrastructure notes though and if you like we can debate how those rankings would shape up in the comments. Spoiler alert, Oklahoma would be no. 1.
No. 1: Texas
Left tackle: Sam Cosmi
Contingencies: Denzel Okafor, Derek Kerstetter, Christian Jones
In all likelihood, Sam Cosmi will leave after his junior year in 2020 and be drafted somewhere between the 1st and 3rd round depending on how he tests and measures at the combine. He’s a great athlete and technician, we’ll see how his wingspan measures. If he's 6-5 or better and the wingspan even longer, he'll go high. If he's 6-5 with a 6-5 wingspan, perhaps he'll slip out of the first round.
Derek Kerstetter isn’t the same level of athlete (though he’s a strong one) but is a strong technician that graded well in pass protection in 2019 as the right tackle. For 2020 he’ll slide inside and start at center. Denzel Okafor played some left tackle for Texas in 2017 when they were desperate after injuries to Connor Williams and Elijah Rodriguez. He flashed some potential but was abused in pass protection and eventually benched in despair. Then he redshirted in 2018 and played some spot duty right tackle in 2019 where he showed he’d come a fair way in his technique..
Christian Jones is another high level athlete at 6-6, 300 that Texas pulled as a raw athlete from a Wing-T offense in the Houston Metroplex. He’s still coming along and is currently the sixth O-lineman. When he's in they slide Okafor inside to guard whereas when Isaiah Hookfin plays, Okafor is outside at right tackle.
Sam Cosmi is the class of the league and while Texas isn't stacked with great left tackles behind him, they may have as many as three other guys that can play it at a passable level in Kerstetter, Okafor, and Jones.
Infrastructure check
From left tackle to center, Texas is as strong as any team in the conference. The Oklahoma’s are bigger across those spots but the Texas group is the most athletic. The right side is going to depend on Okafor having a big senior year and then solid growth from some up and coming young players on the team that will surely need some time to find themselves.
Prospective lineup
LT: Sam Cosmi: 6-6, 309. RS junior. 3-star from HOU
LG: Junior Angilau: 6-6, 295. RS sophomore. 4-star from UT
C: Derek Kerstetter: 6-5, 293. Senior. 3-star from CTX
RG: Isaiah Hookfin: 6-5, 314. RS freshman. 4-star from HOU
RG: Denzel Okafor: 6-3, 317. RS senior. 4-star from DFW
No. 2: Oklahoma
Left tackle: Adrian Ealy
Contingencies: Anton Harrison, Stacey Wilkins, Erik Swenson, Tyrese Robinson
Adrian Ealy had a really strong 2019 as the right tackle now has had a reportedly great offseason. He's the most likely guy to end up starting at left tackle in the fall. He excelled on the edge in the run game last year and had a few moments as a puller on their GT counter schemes, but was too beat up to be consistently good all year. A healthier Ealy is their best returning tackle from 2019 and thus the most likely starter for 2020. He was strong in space and changing direction a year ago, if he’s improved his kick step from 2019 then he could be fantastic here.
There were whispers around the program last year that Stacey Wilkins might be good and talented enough to step in and solve some of their issues but they preserved his redshirt. He’s a future option at left tackle but is now fending off true freshman Anton Harrison, the exciting new talent. I don’t hear much about Erik Swenson, who started last year when healthy and had some struggles. I wonder if he’s still battling some injuries. Tyrese Robinson filled in at right tackle in a few games when Ealy was out and was a very steady player there. If UCLA transfer Chris Murray is eligible to play at guard this season I expect Robinson to start at right tackle.
Like Texas, the Sooners have one great option and then a number of solid fallbacks. The future in Norman at left tackle post-2020 is brighter than in Austin but so long as Cosmi is around Texas has the edge.
Infrastructure check
For years now, Oklahoma has dominated the Big 12 by being the most Big 12y team, embracing the shootout style and carrying more bullets into the battle than anyone else. That’s included having an offensive line that can dominate light boxes in the run game as part of a balanced but pass-first approach on offense. In 2019 they won the league with iffy tackle play but an overwhelming interior line. For 2020 they return all of those pieces and add UCLA transfer Chris Murray. This is going to be a tough team to stop in the run game when this group is paired with their fullbacks and play-action passing game.
This is basically a comparable unit to the OSU O-line in that it’s massive and mauling on the left side, but then with an NFL pick rather than a walk-on at center and two more stars on the right side rather than youngsters thrown to the wolves.
Prospective lineup
LT: Adrian Ealy: 6-6, 327. RS junior. 4-star from LA
LG: Marquis Hayes: 6-5, 349. RS junior. 4-star from MO
OC: Creed Humphrey: 6-5, 320. Senior. 4-star from OK
RG: Chris Murray: 6-3, 297. Junior. 4-star from CA/UCLA transfer
RT: Tyrese Robinson: 6-3, 335. RS junior. 4-star from DFW
No. 3: Baylor
Left tackle: Connor Galvin
Contingencies: Jake Burton, Casey Phillips
Baylor has three guys that have started games for them at tackle and demonstrated some legitimate athleticism and now add UCLA transfer Jake Burton. What they’ve lacked is development and technique, both because they're all young and inexperienced and also because they haven’t had high level instruction yet. Galvin will be a true junior, Casey Phillips is a redshirt junior that was pressed into action in 2019 when Galvin was hurt, they also were using Blake Bedier here until recently who was a very raw athlete and new to football. The raw materials here are arguably some of the best in the league but they have a ways to go and a shortened window of time in which to get there.
Overall the line is certainly a question mark after some shaky appearances in 2019, but many of those occurred without Galvin who’s one of the most proven tackles in the league. Charlie Brewer was sacked 31 times in 2019 and 16 of them (about half) occurred in the four games that Galvin missed. They took some sacks in other games as well, Galvin hasn’t yet been an early day draft pick at tackle, but he’s pretty good and was miles better than the alternatives.
Infrastructure check
Baylor was not good on the offensive line under Matt Rhule. Their strongest stretch was actually the back half of 2018 when Connor Galvin stabilized their protection and the right side had a trio of veteran seniors in Sam Tecklenburg, Blake Blackmar and Pat Lawrence that made their zone run game work. When those guys graduated they slipped badly in 2019 despite plugging in some solid athletes like Bedier and Phillips. This group is getting older, and bigger, and has received some praise from the staff. It’s hard to be confident though that they’ll be legitimately good until we see it. Perhaps the best guess is that they’ll grow considerably over the course of the season because there is some real talent.
Prospective lineup
LT: Connor Galvin: 6-6, 310. Junior. 3-star from HOU
LG: Khalil Keith: 6-5, 320. RS sophomore. 3-star from AL
C: Xavier Newman: 6-2, 307. Senior. 4-star from DFW
RG: Blake Bedier: 6-5, 300. Senior. 3-star from UT/UT JUCO
RT: Jake Burton: 6-6, 312. RS senior. 3-star from CA/UCLA transfer
No. 4: Iowa State
Left tackle: Joey Ramos
Contingencies: Grant Treiber, Sean Foster
This is one of the most crucial space force units in the league that could dictate who plays in the Big 12 Championship Game. As many other teams are probably contemplating doing right now, the Cyclones made the choice in 2018 to move their best athlete Julian Good-Jones to left tackle even though he was at his best inside. That solidified the position for them at a passable level but now he’s gone. Sean Foster started games at right tackle in 2018 but was mostly benched in 2019 for Good-Jones and Bryce Meeker, both of whom are now gone. Judging by Matt Campbell's comments, Foster seems to have taken to heart that 2020 is his last chance to make the most of his football career.
The real buzz in the program is around redshirt freshman Grant Treiber and redshirt sophomore Joey Ramos, the latter of whom was Good-Jones’ understudy in 2019.
Treiber is the better pure athlete and at 6-6, 295 has prototypical size and length for the position. Ramos is listed at 6-5, 310 and isn’t the same level of athlete but has a high level of coordination and punch and has drawn positive reviews. He could be a natural technician that plays like a veteran early in his career, that’s the hope anyways. In limited snaps in relief of Julian Good-Jones in 2019, Ramos checked off a few boxes. He's large and moves well both in the run game and in pass protection.
Infrastructure check
Things are good here, Iowa State’s recruiting of big Midwesterners for the last few years in Ames showed up faster on the interior than outside. The Cyclones have a pair of interior linemen that are quite good and got started early in their career in Collin Newell and Trevor Downing. Newell can play center or guard so they also have some flexibility in how they fill out their lineup. Downing was their best lineman in 2019 as a redshirt freshman. Beyond those two the team has a few additional massive, upperclassman Midwesterners (Rob Hudson, 6-6/320 and Jake Remsburg, 6-6/315) coming up the ranks. The question marks are really all at tackle given how much dropback passing this team does.
Prospective lineup
LT: Joey Ramos: 6-5, 303. RS sophomore. 3-star from AZ
LG: Trevor Downing: 6-4, 314. RS sophomore. 3-star from IA
C: Derek Schweiger: 6-3, 311. RS junior. Walk-on from WI
RG: Collin Newell: 6-4, 304. RS junior. 3-star from IA
RT: Sean Foster: 6-8, 318. RS senior. 3-star from IL
No. 5: TCU
Left tackle: Austin Myers
Contingencies: DJ Storment, Andrew Coker, Brandon Coleman
Austin Myers is the rare, 4-star tackle prospect signed by a non-OU/TX team and he’s played a lot of football for the Frogs but primarily inside at guard up until now. He has real athleticism and change of direction but he’s been at his best translating it on the edge with screens and spread run game rather than dropback pass protection. With a leap in technical savvy he could have an important senior year, he’ll be good in the run/screen game either way.
Grad transfer DJ Storment is a pretty solid football player, ideally at right tackle but he’s done more in his career thus far (at Colorado State) than many of the other guys on this list. Redshirt freshman Andrew Coker rounds out the list, a big and talented player that was raw coming out of high school but has a lot of tools. The 247 guys seem to think Coker is ahead of Storment, which is indicative of TCU choosing youthful upside over experience and/or Coker figuring things out on a pretty accelerated timeline.
Infrastructure check
The Frogs are fairly young and starting second or third year players at almost every position. The entire program is clearly orienting around the 2021 season, especially now that Max Duggan is expected to miss some amount of the 2020 season. The Frogs have some talent but, like much of the league, they tend to be pretty developmental in their process. In other words, they don’t recruit many players that are ready to be great as underclassmen and they haven’t had the 2019 bowl practices or spring to do their normal work. The outlook here isn’t that great, but there’s above average talent (upside) relative to the greater league.
Prospective lineup
LT: Austin Myers: 6-5, 303. RS senior. 4-star from HOU
LG: John Lanz: 6-3, 311. Sophomore. 3-star from DFW
C: Esteban Avila: 6-4, 314. RS sophomore. 3-star from DFW
RG: Quazzel White: 6-3, 317. RS sophomore. 3-star from WS
RT: Andrew Coker: 6-7, 326. RS freshman. 3-star from HOU
