Texas Football: 3 players who must step up after Whittington injury

2) Texas football WR’s to step up in Whittington’s absence: Jake Smith

The Longhorns got very thin in the second half at the slot wide receiver position against UTEP. Not only was Whittington out in the second half with that knee injury, Texas was also missing sophomore wide receiver Jake Smith due to a hamstring injury he suffered in one-on-one drills in practice in the week leading up to this game.

Smith was intended to be the starter at the H-wide receiver position against UTEP, but the hamstring injury news dropped later on in the week of practice leading up to this Sep. 12 opener. Whittington was his backup, and the two of them might be the two most explosive and agile skill position players on this entire roster.

Due to the injuries to both Smith and Whittington, Herman and recently promoted wide receivers coach Andre Coleman had to throw the sophomore former walk-on Kai Money into action in the second half. Money did have a very good Longhorns debut when he was thrown into the fire, though, with four catches for 26 yards and his first career touchdown.

It is anticipated that Smith will return to game action to make his season debut for the Longhorns in the Big 12 opener in two weekends on the road against Texas Tech. He’ll likely need to have a big game to help this Texas offense stay ahead of the explosive Red Raiders offense, led by standout quarterback Alan Bowman.