The addition of Kyle Flood to the Texas coaching staff has been just what the doctor ordered for Longhorns fans.
When Flood was hired away from Alabama, a little more than one year ago, he walked away from one of the country’s marquee programs, and he left a Crimson Tide program that was known for dominating people at the line of scrimmage behind an offensive line unit that Flood had recruited and developed. In joining the Texas program as the Longhorns’ offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, Flood was charged with one primary task – fix a UT offensive line that has been a bit of an Achilles’ heel for the program for more than a decade.
Flood, whose Crimson Tide offensive line won the Joe Moore Award in 2020 as the nation’s top unit, was facing a bit of a stacked deck when he first arrived in Austin in January of 2021. The staff before him had secured just two pledges for the 2021 class – three-star Hayden Connor and three-star Max Merril. Texas did sign a solid group in the 2020 class, led by current starting center Jake Majors along with Logan Parr, Jaylen Garth and Andrej Karic. The 2019 group was another subpar effort by the previous staff, with three of the four signees no longer part of the program and the fourth (Isaiah Hookfin) having yet to make an impact on the Texas program. It’s a similar story going back to 2018, with two of the Longhorns’ five signees serving as starters last fall (Junior Angilau, Christian Jones), while three others are no longer in the UT program.
The bad news for Flood … he didn’t exactly walk into an embarrassment of riches when he first stepped into the football offices at Texas. The good news … things couldn’t get much worse and up was really the only direction things could trend with the addition of a coach with Flood’s reputation.
Not only has Texas’ OL recruiting fate ascended since Flood took over, the Longhorns’ fortunes have shot into the atmosphere like they have a rocket strapped their its back.
In adding five-star offensive lineman Devon Campbell on Wednesday, Flood and Texas have secured their top offensive line haul in the 20-year history of Rivals.com.
Consider this …
Campbell, ranked No. 14 on the Rivals100, is the highest-rated offensive lineman to ever sign with Texas in Rivals.com’s history. Justin Blalock, who signed with UT 20 years ago, previously held that title with his No. 15 ranking nationally. Blalock, of course, would go on to start 50 consecutive games for Texas and would become a two-time all-American.
Never before has Texas signed seven offensive linemen in a single class. Twice, in 2015 and 2016, Texas signed six linemen, but that included two junior college linemen in 2015. And of the 12 players in those two classes, only Patrick Hudson, ranked in the Rivals100 (No. 62).
Only twice in the history of Rivals.com’s rankings has Texas signed a five-star offensive line prospect, and only two times have the Longhorns secured commitments from two Rivals100 members in the same class (2002, 2009). This year’s class features the highest-ranked five-star lineman to ever sign with Texas (Campbell) and for the first time ever, the Longhorns have signed a total of three Rivals100 linemen (Campbell, Kelvin Banks and Neto Umeozulu). Two others (Cole Hutson, Malik Agbo) rank in the Rivals250.
Put it all together and it’s not only the greatest UT offensive line class in the history of Rivals.com, it’s likely to be ranked the top offensive line class of any team in college football this year. Flood certainly thinks so.
It’s pretty remarkable what Flood has been able to accomplish in his first recruiting cycle in Austin, especially when you consider the struggles Texas had to endure on the field in 2021. He’s an aggressive recruiter that never gives up, even after a kid commits elsewhere – nowhere was that more evident than him continuing to recruit Banks and Cameron Williams despite their early commitments to Oregon, only to see them both flip to Texas in December. Flood is a coach that’s known to be tough on his players when he needs to be, while at the same time being a strong relationship-builder and developer of the talent under his tutelage. If you ask any of the linemen Texas signed this year, they’ll likely tell you they wouldn’t be in Austin without Flood’s presence on the UT staff.
“Coach Flood was definitely the coach I was closest with in my whole recruiting process,” said interior offensive lineman Connor Robertson, who signed with Texas in December. “I was able to talk and connect with him so easily.
“He’s also the best O-line coach in the country and I firmly believe that. He’s got a great energy to him and I am so fired up to be on the 40 with him and to bring UT back to the top.”
Banks, one of the crown jewels of UT’s class and another key December signee for Texas, said it’s Flood’s ability to mentor his linemen on the field while also connecting in them outside of football that led him to choose Texas over schools like Oregon, Texas A&M and LSU.
“What makes coach (Flood) such a great coach is the way he teaches and gets in tune with his players. You can tell he cares and truly wants to better his players,” Banks said. “He has a great personality as well.”
Reinforcements are definitely on the way for the Longhorns’ offensive line thanks to the greatest O-line class the Texas program has ever seen. Flood has set a ridiculously high bar in his first year in Austin, and UT fans are hopeful that his presence can cure some of what has been ailing the Longhorn program for the better part of two decades.
