Texas OT Sam Cosmi is already an elite run blocker

One of the best young offensive tackles in college football calls Austin home, as Texas Longhorns sophomore Sam Cosmi enters the 2019 season as the highest-graded returning run blocker among all Big 12 tackles.

So while Cosmi wasn’t named to the preseason All-Big 12 team, he has a chance to earn those accolades when they really matter — at the end of the season — if he can build on his promising redshirt freshman season.

As good as Cosmi was clearing running lanes for backs like returning sophomore Keaontay Ingram, who liked to bounce runs outside of Cosmi’s blocks on the right side last season, he was even better as a pass blocker, allowing only 25 pressures all season.

Cosmi believes that he benefited tremendously from his redshirt season, when he sat out to improve his strength and technique after he signed with Texas as a low three-star prospect ranked No. 1,123 nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

“Staying out that first year, kind of getting down the speed of the game, really, really helped me develop as a player,” Cosmi said during spring practice. “Sitting out my first year was really crucial in my collegiate career so far. I think it really helped a lot.”

Now he’ll have to adjust to blocking on junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s blind side. If he can fulfill his potential there, FOX Sports game analyst Joel Klatt believes that he has an incredibly high ceiling.

“Really high,” Klatt told Burnt Orange Nation. “Like first-round draft pick. First-round draft pick. I’m not saying he’s going to be, I’m just saying that I think he has that ceiling. He’s athletic. He can move. He carries 300 pounds about as well as anybody. He carries it like he’s a tailback, you know.”