After Bijan Robinson, Texas has another epic NFL Draft drought to end. Enter Kelvin Banks
Before he ever played a snap at Texas, left tackle Kelvin Banks had made an impression on the Longhorns’ best player.
During a weight room workout last summer, weeks after Banks arrived on campus, star running back Bijan Robinson tried to joke with the 6-foot-4, 318-pound freshman. As Robinson recalled last July during Big 12 media days, Banks was focused on his workout and clearly not in the mood.
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“He just looked at me like, ‘Leave me alone,'” Robinson said, smiling. “I was like, golly.”
Asked about the exchange recently, Banks said the reaction wasn’t intentional.
“My natural face isn’t a happy face,” Banks said, chuckling. “I was definitely not mean-mugging him or mad at him.”
Miscommunications aside, Banks and the Texas offensive line played with the mean streak teammates and coaches hoped for in 2022, leading a dramatic turnaround for a unit that had been a sore spot the previous season. Banks, who started from Day 1 as a true freshman, helped turn the front into a strength.
If Robinson, who had a career year in 2022 behind that line, hears his name called on Thursday in the first round of the NFL Draft, it will put an end to Texas’ remarkable 16-year streak of drafts without an offensive player chosen in the first round. The last Longhorn offensive player to go in Round 1? Vince Young in 2006.
And if Banks continues his current trajectory, he could join Robinson as a first-round pick in two years, ending another astonishing Longhorn draft drought: Texas hasn’t had an offensive lineman chosen in the first round since 2002.
In the last 20 drafts, only seven Texas offensive linemen have been selected. That total equals Boise State, Central Michigan, Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, Oregon State, Purdue, UCLA and Vanderbilt in the same timeframe, according to Stathead. And it’s fewer than 38 teams, including Texas A&M (14), Illinois (13), Boston College (12), TCU (12), Pitt (11), Nebraska (11), Louisville (nine), NC State (nine), Tennessee (nine), Virginia (eight), Baylor (eight), Cal (eight) and Texas Tech (eight).
Texas had a strong run of O-linemen drafted in the Mack Brown era. NFL teams chose seven of them from 2001 to ’07, including two first rounders in Leonard Davis (2001) and Mike Williams (2002). But Texas had just two taken in the last 14 years: Connor Williams in 2018 and Samuel Cosmi in 2021, both second-round choices.
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Coaches often preach that games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. It’s easy to connect the dots between Texas’ draft woes up front and the team’s post-2009 struggles. Texas has just one 10-win season in the last 13 years, despite having the nation’s fifth-best average recruiting class ranking (8.64) in that span. The Longhorns went nine consecutive drafts (2009-17) without having an offensive lineman chosen.
The teams in a similar recruiting stratosphere have all done a better job producing draft-worthy O-linemen, with one exception: Clemson, which also has had only seven linemen taken in the last 20 drafts, though all seven have come in the last 15 years.
OL draftees, 2003-2022
(Source: Stathead)
Roster attrition proved a major factor here, and the hits have come in waves. From 2011 to ’13, Texas signed 14 offensive line recruits, and nine of them transferred, medically retired or were dismissed from the team. In the 2015 and 2016 classes, six of the 11 O-line signees transferred, medically retired or left the team. And four of Texas’ five offensive line prospects in the 2018 class didn’t finish their eligibility with the Longhorns.
Although Texas’ recent history has been bleak in this area, Banks provides a source of optimism. The former five-star recruit is the fifth-highest ranked offensive line recruit the Longhorns have signed in the internet recruiting era, per 247Sports. He excelled in his debut season, starting all 13 games and seeing 858 snaps en route to second-team All-Big 12 recognition and multiple freshman All-America honors.
In Banks’ 456 pass-blocking snaps, he allowed just two sacks, one quarterback hit and 12 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. Those numbers stack up well to Texas’ two previous tackle draftees. Connor Williams, as a true freshman starting left tackle in 2015, allowed no sacks, two quarterback hits and 16 pressures in 344 pass blocking snaps. Cosmi, as a redshirt freshman right tackle in 2018, allowed three sacks, three quarterback hits and 25 pressures in 567 pass blocking snaps, per PFF.
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“I don’t know if you could get off to a better start than what he did in his college career,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said of Banks. “But … he’s not satisfied. And that’s one of the beautiful things about Kelvin is that he’s hungry. He wants to be special. He wants to be great. And he works at it every day.”
Banks showed substantial growth throughout 2022. He held his own during a Week 2 loss to Alabama. Sarkisian commended his “feistiness” in the first quarter of a midseason win over rival Oklahoma. By the season’s final month, he was playing with the confidence and physicality of an upperclassman.
Banks credited Texas offensive line coach Kyle Flood with preparing him to start immediately and helping him to hone his technique and footwork, efforts that continued this spring.
“He brings a workmanlike mentality, he strives to get better,” Sarkisian said. “He’s a highly competitive young guy that, when it doesn’t go right for whatever the reason is, he wants to get it fixed and compete at an even higher level.”
It’s unlikely Banks’ first-year showing is surprising to Sarkisian. The coach said a year ago that he thinks Banks has the potential to be a top-five NFL Draft pick.
And it’s not just Banks who shows promise. All five of Texas’ 2022 offensive line starters return in 2023, and only one of them, right tackle Christian Jones, is a senior. Cole Hutson, who signed in the same class as Banks, also started every game last season at right guard. Juniors Hayden Conner and Jake Majors each started all season at left guard and center, respectively.
The Longhorns’ emphasis on accumulating what Sarkisian calls “big humans” is one reason why there are positive vibes surrounding the program’s direction. Texas signed a combined 12 offensive linemen in the last two classes. Add in Conner, Majors and Jones — who were on the roster when Sarkisian arrived — and Texas has built strong depth up front. That’s important for the Longhorns as they ready for a 2024 entry into the SEC, a league built on strong line play.
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And if the current Texas front continues to develop, Banks won’t be the only Longhorn lineman getting attention at the next level. There’s little doubt about his future, even as Sarkisian acknowledges his room for growth.
“You start as a true freshman, you’re a freshman All-American, you’ve got a pretty good career ahead of you,” Sarkisian said.
(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
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