The 360-pounder needs to mature in order to be able to properly control his weight.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns and offensive line coach Kyle Flood have a soft spot for large people; eight players on the 2024 spring roster weigh at least 324 pounds, which is the average weight of the school’s 17 scholarship offensive lineman. However, being big isn’t enough to succeed in the trenches. Those linemen also need to be able to move.
It meant redistributing his weight for junior Cam Williams, who is expected to replace Christian Jones at right tackle. Jones started 48 games at Texas and weighed 364 pounds as a rookie and 369 pounds as a sophomore.
“Cam’s done a great job — his weight has really come down,” said Sarkisian on Monday. “I referenced it to him today on the field. He’s moving really well.”
Williams out of Duncanville in the 2022 class was ranked as the No. 56 offensive tackle nationally and just inside the top-100 players in the state of Texas by 247Sports, despite his obvious upside. That’s the balance that Sarkisian and Flood have to strike with their big humans.
“That’s always the challenge, right? We want big humans, but we want them to be able to move, so I think Cam has really matured that way and [understands] the value of keeping his weight manageable to where he can play to the best of his ability,” said Sarkisian.
Williams played only 23 snaps and 77 snaps in 13 games as a true freshman on the field-goal unit—barely enough to assess if his level of conditioning would hold up in longer plays. But Williams filled in for Jones against Kansas State last season because of an ankle injury, playing 76 snaps. Williams scored an 85.5 in pass protection and didn’t allow any pressures, according to PFF, but demonstrated his room for improvement as a run blocker with a poor grade of 52.0.
“With Cam coming in, I felt like I had to take him under my wing a little bit and communicate with him more on plays,” center Jake Majors said last year after the Kansas State game. “Cam was very physical and that’s all we could have asked from him. I don’t think that there was any drop off from [Jones] to Cam.”
That Majors assessment doesn’t seem entirely accurate, especially considering Jones’ above-average grades in run blocking and pass blocking throughout the 2023 season. Williams was called for three false starts in that game, though Sarkisian thinks Williams’ start was a positive.
“What invaluable experience Cam Williams got last Saturday getting that start under his belt,” said Sarkisian.
The Texas head coach echoed that sentiment on Monday
“I think it was good for him a year ago to get that start and to play an entire game and what that felt like from a conditioning standpoint,” said Sarkisian.
“And so now in spring practice, what it feels like getting the extensive reps that way and getting himself into football shape, because we can train them all winter long and they can be in great shape, and then when football comes, that’s a different shape that you have to get your mind and your body into.”
Considering how much Jones has developed in his three years under the Texas coach, it is safe to say that Williams’ conditioning is still a work in progress and that he has more unrealized potential as a lineman that Sarkisian is trusting Flood to unlock.
“I think he’s getting better at that, but I think he can still get better.”