Young offensive lineman Neto Umeozulu took advantage of his extended playing time at left guard during the Texas football team’s shellacking of Texas Tech last November. After playing in just three previous games as a redshirt freshman, he bullied and brutalized the Red Raiders’ defensive linemen while helping Texas rack up more than 300 rushing yards in the 57-7 win.

But Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian still made time for some in-game counseling. And he didn’t pull Umeozulu aside to talk about stunt pickups or assignment calls.

“I had to try to almost calm him down,” Sarkisian said this week. “He was truly playing through the echo of the whistle. So we're trying to keep him within the confines of the game. He’s a nasty player, and we saw that last year when he was in the Tech game.”

For the record, those words came as a compliment — and they came with a smile from the coach. Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood like their “big humans,” as Sarkisian often refers to his linemen, to have an edge.

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Texas' offensive line rotation is taking shape inside

Umeozulu, a 6-foot-4, 334-pound sophomore from the Class 6A high school powerhouse of Allen, certainly has sharpened things up this spring. He’s pushing two-year starter Hayden Conner for playing time at left guard while also giving Texas more options in the interior of the offensive line.

While Sarkisian emphasized that he’s not worried about depth charts or starting spots at this point of spring practice, he did say Conner also has worked some at center, a position where Jake Majors enters his third season as the starter. Considering that right guards Cole Hutson and DJ Campbell have combined for 27 starts in their careers, Texas has five proven players at the three interior line spots, if you’re counting Umeozulu.

“There's a long season we have to play, now more than ever with the College Football Playoff,” Sarkisian said. “It may take 15, 16 games to try to win a national championship. So we're trying to develop all of those guys as we go.”

Junior Kelvin Banks Jr., one of the top left tackles in college football, said he cannot tell the difference among those who line up to his right during practice rotations — quite literally.

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“It doesn’t matter because they’re both doing their job,” Banks said, referring to Conner and Umeozulu. “We have a great rotation, and we have guys going in and out, but we all have good communication with each other.”

Running back CJ Baxter even compared the work rate of Umeozulu and the other linemen to his own position group, which is high praise from a player who always champions his own room.

“Outside of the backs, that's one group that’s, like, ‘Let's go work hard every day,’ ” Baxter said. “I mean, they try to get better every single day. Coach Flood does a great job of getting them to where they need to be.”

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Is bigger better up front?

If Umeozulu does become the full-time starter at left guard, he would add to a supersizing of the line over the past couple of seasons because he outweighs Conner by about 10 pounds. The 6-3, 332-pound Campbell supplanted the 6-5, 313-pound Hutson at right guard last season, and presumed right tackle Cam Williams checks in at 6-5, 360, almost 40 pounds heavier than Christian Jones, last year's starter.

At this point in his career, Umeozulu just needs to learn from some of his older teammates such as Conner and Hutson if he wants to become a full-time player, said his teammates and coaches.

“Neto, he's an aggressive player,” Banks said. “He's never lacked aggressiveness, but just him understanding the game and what goes into making different calls and stuff like that, I feel like that part of his game has improved a lot.”

Sarkisian agreed, saying the combination of experience and power could make Umeozulu a major contributor — if not a breakout star — in 2024.

“We're feeling it; he's coming,” Sarkisian said. “He's making strides. The first practice of spring ball, he might have four or five or six missed assignments. That number’s down to one or two now. I see some of the most physical blocks from Neto. He’s definitely a talented player, an explosive player.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Neto Umeozulu powers toward starting job for Longhorns football team