Texas Football: Jake Smith starts over Whittington vs. Iowa State

Sophomore Texas football wide receiver Jake Smith is set to get the start in the slot (also the H) over redshirt freshman Jordan Whittington.

The release of the Texas football depth chart this week by fourth-year head coach Tom Herman didn’t feature much change from how it was likely going to look last weekend if the originally scheduled meeting with the Kansas Jayhawks was actually played. Texas didn’t change the depth chart a whole lot week-over-week in general through seven games played this season.

Nonetheless there were still some important notes from the release of this week’s Longhorns depth chart as they take on the No. 13 ranked Iowa State Cyclones at home on the morning of Black Friday. More specifically Texas is set to kick off against Iowa State at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Nov. 27 at 11 a.m. CT.

Three of the most notable nuggets from the release of this week’s depth chart for the Iowa State game were the running back hierarchy (or lack thereof), slot wide receiver order, and the defensive line. All three of the Texas running backs, junior Keaontay Ingram, sophomore Roschon Johnson, and freshman Bijan Robinson were listed with “OR” next to their names.

That means that the Longhorns are looking to split the workload between those three to a pretty even degree, despite Robinson’s solid breakthrough play of late. A lot of that also depends on the health of Ingram, who is questionable heading into the Iowa State game.

At slot wide receiver/H-wide receiver, the Longhorns are giving the start to sophomore Jake Smith over the redshirt freshman former five-star recruit Jordan Whittington. While it’s not surprising that Smith was listed as the starter over Whittington, it is key to note that they both are likely to get a decent workload in crucial spots against the Clones.

In four games played this season, Smith registered 17 catches for 192 receiving yards (11.3 yards per catch), and three touchdown catches. Smith has played better and better of late as he’s worked his way back from injury earlier in the season.

Meanwhile, Whittington is working back from a number of injuries of his own. Most recently, an upper-body injury and small tear in his meniscus, were what limited Whittington so far this season. In bits and pieces of two games played this season, Whittington registered 12 catches for 110 receiving yards (9.2 yards per carry), and no receiving touchdowns. He also has one rushing attempt for 15 yards.

Texas comes into this pivotal Black Friday Big 12 showdown with head coach Matt Campbell and the Clones with a record of 5-2 (4-2 Big 12). Their last game resulted in a close 17-13 home win back on Nov. 7 over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Meanwhile, Iowa State comes into this game with a record of 6-2 (6-1 Big 12) after dominating the Kansas State Wildcats at home on Nov. 21, by the final score of 45-0.