In one of the most anticipated postseason decisions on the Texas Longhorns’ roster, fourth-year offensive lineman Neto Umeozulu entered the NCAA transfer portal when the window opened Friday.
Part of the Longhorns’ heralded 2022 offensive line class, Umeozulu was a major coup for Texas offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood as he worked to rebuild the roster. Considering the Horns’ historic lack of success in recruiting talent-rich Allen High School, securing Umeozulu late in the cycle was all the more remarkable.
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The 6-foot-4, 325-pounder’s decision came after official visits to Alabama and USC in addition to Texas. Other offers for the consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 91 player nationally and No. 4 interior offensive lineman, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, included Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
With classmate Cole Hutson starting as a freshman and DJ Campbell stepping into that right guard role in 2023, Umeozulu has had a tough path to playing behind three-year starter Hayden Conner on the left side.
In 13 games over his first three seasons, Umeozulu played 166 snaps, showing a higher level of consistency than 81 snaps in blowouts as a redshirt sophomore in 2024, albeit against overmatched competition.
Umeozulu was finally expected to play a starting role in 2025 as a fourth-year player, but buzz began to build late in preseason camp that redshirt sophomore Connor Stroh had moved up the depth chart at left guard.
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Relegated to a rotation role in the season opener against Ohio State with Stroh starting, Umeozulu played 11 snaps before seeing the field for 37 games against San Jose State and 25 games against UTEP, all games in which he rated fairly well as Stroh struggled and was benched in favor of freshman Nick Brooks before Flood moved Hutson back to guard and made redshirt junior Connor Robertson starting at center.
By the end of non-conference play, Umeozulu didn’t see any playing time on offense until the blowout win over Arkansas in November, settling for playing time on the field goal unit – although the position turned into an abject disaster, the staff deemed Umeozulu unfit to address those issues.
After walking out on Senior Night, it was clear that Umeozulu was going to leave the program when the January window opened, officially making his career the most disappointing of Texas’ seven offensive line signings in 2022 as Flood’s disconnect between what he thought he was getting from the left guard position and the porous play that resulted became a deciding factor in the Horns missing the playoffs, a miscalculation potentially ending Flood’s tenure at Austin that didn’t result in a worthy firing of head coach Steve Sarkisian. long-time colleague.
