Andre Cojoe is playing well for Texas at LT

AUSTIN, TEXAS - APRIL 17: Andre Cojoe at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on April 17, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by The University of Texas Athletics/University Images via Getty Images)

For offensive linemen, a certain degree of invisibility is usually a good thing — when they’re playing at a high level, they aren’t giving up sacks or pressures, committing penalties, or busting assignments.

And that was the case for Texas Longhorns redshirt junior left tackle Andre Cojoe in practice this week as he replaced star Trevor Goosby, who suffered a bone bruise in his knee on Monday.

“I would argue there was two or three days this week you didn’t notice that it was him at left tackle, and that’s a great thing as an offensive lineman. When you’re not noticing who it is, that just means the guy’s doing his job really well,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said after Saturday’s scrimmage.

It’s all the more impressive for three seasons — the Longhorns aren’t easy to block on the edge with the explosive presence of Colin Simmons and emerging young talent like Landon Jackson, Zina Umeozulu, and Richard Wesley, Cojoe has only played 33 career snaps, and he’s recovering from a knee injury that ended his preseason competition with Brandon Baker for the starting job at right tackle last year.

After going from performing well in practice to a lengthy rehabilitation process, the 6’6, 339-pounder was able to keep his weight under control to maintain the movement ability that gives him an unusually high ceiling for a former consensus three-star prospect.

“It’s a long road back from that injury, and so the fact that he worked the way that he worked, he’s got his weight to where he’s a big man, but he’s light on his feet, he can move, he’s explosive,” Sarkisian said.

The next step for Cojoe is fully regaining his conditioning to handle a heavy volume of snaps in extremely hot conditions with the temperature nearing 150 degrees on the artificial turf field at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium during Saturday’s scrimmage.

“I think now the biggest thing that he learned coming out of today is the mental and physical conditioning you have to have to do it for 50, 60, 70 snaps consistently, especially against the high-caliber, high-level players that that he’s having to go against and block every single play,” Sarkisian said.

But every day, Cojoe is making “incremental progress” in that area, an important development with no firm timetable set for Goosby’s return ahead of the season opener against Texas State in two games, a game that Cojoe is likely to start.

“He’s got still got room to grow and still can continue to improve, but I have been pleased with his ability to step in at that position, and I think it gives us confidence for the future if something were to occur that he could step in and play well for us,” Sarkisian said.

Not only has Cojoe established himself as the third tackle, his ability to play on the left side has allowed position coach Kyle Flood to maintain the continuity on the right side with Baker at right guard and redshirt junior Melvin Siani at right tackle, not necessarily the expected outcome when Goosby went down with his injury.

So the Longhorns managed to avoid the worst-case scenario with Goosby’s non-contact injury, kept the rest of the line intact, and have evidence that Cojoe can fill in capably for Goosby, all heartening developments.