There are few teams more profoundly impacted by the incoming changes to college football than Texas, the team that arguably started it all with a move from the Big 12 to the SEC. They do move to a tougher conference, but there’s more leeway in terms of making the College Football Playoff now that the field has expanded to 12 teams.
Either way, Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns squad is fully prepared to compete in their new conference home. They’re as talented as any team in the country, and that means that there are plenty of future NFL players on the roster.
Here are the top three Texas prospects to watch ahead of the NFL Draft, which begins on April 24, 2025:
Kelvin Banks Jr. | Offensive tackle
ESPN’s Matt Miller on Banks: “A prototypical left tackle”
Prospect ranking: Pro Football Focus (No. 6.), Tankathon (No. 9), Pro Football Network (No. 17)
It’s not often that a school features a quarterback who could go first overall, yet the consensus is that he’s not the best pro prospect on the roster. We’ll get to that quarterback in a moment, but first, let’s talk about that certified premium prospect; offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr.
At 6-foot-4 and 324 pounds, Banks has the frame needed to succeed at the next level. His blend of athleticism with explosiveness and natural leverage makes him extremely effective in both pass protection and the run game, a package any NFL team would covet.
It’s very hard to imagine Banks falling out of the top 10 of this year’s draft. Even in the Pro Football Network list, he’s the second-highest graded tackle and just a couple of spots below #1. If that ends up being the case, he’ll all but certainly be a high draft pick, just based on positional value; the best couple of offensive tackles will always be drafted quite highly, even if it’s a relative down year for the position.
