Chris Warren Injury Worse Than Feared for Texas Football
By Tyler Brett
One of the major storylines coming out of last week’s loss to Oklahoma State (other than the coaching drama) was the health of Chris Warren III. New reports suggest the injury could be season-ending, which would be a significant blow to the Longhorns offense.
Warren had been enjoying a stellar start to his sophomore season. Paired up with D’Onta Foreman, the Bash Brothers were the most productive running back duo in the Big 12 heading into Week 5. Against Oklahoma State, Warren was a spark for the offense, rushing for 106 yards on 10 carries before leaving the game with a knee injury before halftime.
In his absence, Foreman took on the bulk of the carries, rushing for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries before he left the game with an abdomen injury. That pushed freshman Kyle Porter into a featured back role in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 30 yards on seven carries, though 18 of those came on one run. On the season, Porter has rushed for 63 yards on 15 carries.
Charlie Strong would only say that he “didn’t know” how long Warren would be out for on Monday. However, he did say that he would definitely miss this week’s game against Oklahoma. Now, reports say the injury could sideline Warren 6-8 weeks. With only eight weeks remaining in the 2016 regular season, that could be it for Warren’s sophomore season.
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The Texas offense has enjoyed early success thanks in large part to the play of Warren. He’s proven to be a perfect complement to Foreman, providing a one-two punch that pulverizes opposing defenses into submission. Warren brings the rare combination of size to execute the interior power runs and the speed to take it to the house once he breaks into the second level.
Without Warren in the lineup, the Texas running attack will suffer. Foreman is still going to get his yards as one of the best backs in the Big 12. However, he can’t take every hand off. With the uptempo attack of Sterlin Gilbert, having a second back is crucial to keeping Foreman fresh in the fourth quarter. If last week is any indication, that second back will be Porter.
Porter appears to have a bright future ahead of him at Texas, but he’s no Chris Warren. His best asset appears to be his speed, which is excellent. However, this Texas running game requires its backs to run tough between the tackles. Right now, Porter lacks the bulk and the confidence to make that work at the same level of Warren.
This is a serious blow to the Longhorns. However, Texas must adjust. With mounting pressure, there will be no excuses for this team not to win down the stretch. Will they find a way to overcome this loss?