Texas’ Veteran Offensive Line Trio Emerges from Tumultuous 2022 Recruiting Class

Texas’ 2022 recruiting class was a rollercoaster ride, to say the least.

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On the outside, Texas had brought in its first top-five recruiting class of the Steve Sarkisian era, littered with the types of players Texas fans hadn’t seen Tom Herman target in past classes: two five-star offensive linemen, a trio of top-150 players in the secondary, and another trio of that kind on the defensive line.

Yet, zooming back out to where we are in 2025, many of those names have not aged well.

Of the 26 non-specialists added in that class, 17 of them have now transferred to another school. Jaray Bledsoe, Aaron Bryant, and Malik Agbo were the only ones who made it three years in Austin. The rest of that group does have a few hits—Kelvin Banks Jr., Cam Williams, and Jaydon Blue are off to the NFL—but just a 35% hit rate on meaningful production is a disastrous number.

But if there’s one piece of solace that can be taken from this 2022 class, it’s that Texas has found multiple years’ worth of starting linemen: Banks since he was a freshman, Williams this past year, and a new trio that’s emerged—LG Neto Umeozulu, C Cole Hutson, and RG DJ Campbell.

Hutson and Campbell have each been a core piece of the team since their freshman years. Hutson began starting at RG, but soon it was Campbell’s job in year two, and then a rotation in year three.

“I’ve been trying to be more vocal as a leader, especially coming back and having more experience than most guys in the room,” Campbell said. “Me and Cole (Hutson) and (starting LT) Trevor Goosby have been doing a good job of streaming the guys along, and just hoping that you’d be able to spread along to those younger guys.”

While this was happening, however, Umeozulu was stuck behind a future NFL draft pick, Hayden Conner, at LG. When it could’ve been as easy as ever to throw his name into the transfer portal and start Day One at a lesser program, Umeozulu stuck it out. His reward? A starting job in his redshirt junior year with a chance to start at Texas for two seasons.

“It’s been really fun, I’d say,” Campbell said about working in the starting lineup with Umeozulu. “He’s one of my tightest friends, and seeing him develop through the years and now he finally got his chance to showcase his talent.”

This will likely be the oldest trio of starters of any position on the team, with just six players from that 2022 class remaining: the trio, EDGE Ethan Burke, CB Jaylon Guilbeau, and backup center Connor Robertson, the expected starter in 2026. With Campbell and Hutson already combining for over 3,000 snaps in college football, developing a leadership role on the offensive line should come as no surprise for the two.

“Definitely getting in and playing early (helped) me to get that experience. So now that I’m one of the older guys in the room, I know what it takes to win,” Campbell said.

Despite Texas replacing four starters on the offensive line, Campbell really doesn’t care what the outside media has to say about the group—and for good reason. Hutson is an example of someone with over 1,000 career snaps at the college level, both at guard and at center. Campbell claims that there really isn’t much of a difference between Hutson and Texas’ all-time leader in starts: last year’s center, Jake Majors.

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This group epitomizes what it means to grow and develop in a program. While Campbell and Hutson got their looks early, Hutson and Umeozulu have had to wait until year four to see themselves solidly in the starting lineup. Even while their peers looked for opportunities elsewhere, all three have stayed loyal to the program. What comes from that is a chance, both at starting but also at winning a national championship and being drafted into the NFL.