Steve Sarkisian, Texas get massive eligibility win

He'll be a fifth-year senior for Texas with a ton of experience. Last season, he started five games at center and five games at left guard while missing three games due to injury.

This is a kid who started 13 games at right guard as a freshman, so he's been a big-time player for the Longhorns since Steve Sarkisian and his staff picked him up as a recruit.

Hutson did try to make it in the NFL, but he went unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft and did not get picked up despite taking part in minicamp tryouts.

“Cole is a guy with a lot of experience,” Sarkisian said in late July as he admitted the Longhorns were monitoring Hutson's eligibility. “He’s played a lot of football for us. He’s a guy that unfortunately didn’t get drafted, so he puts himself in a bit of a different situation than maybe most guys that got done playing their fourth year in college. We’ll see what that looks like and see where that goes.”