Texas Football: 4 overreactions from the dismantling of Kansas State

4) Overreactions from Texas football’s win over K-State

Offensive line will really suffer without Derek Kerstetter

At least in terms of the impact it will have in the trenches for Herman and offensive line coach/co-offensive coordinator Herb Hand, one of the worst things possible happened on Dec. 5. Texas lost senior center/guard Derek Kerstetter to an awful looking lower-body injury. This came on the same week that the Longhorns had standout redshirt junior offensive tackle Sam Cosmi opt out of the rest of the season.

Cosmi was one of the most reliable and skilled offensive linemen that Texas had in recent memory. He was a multi-time All-Big 12 selection and a former Freshman All-American. Cosmi could very well be the top offensive line prospect out of the Big 12 in the 2021 NFL Draft. It’s likely that he will be a first round draft pick next year.

Now that the Longhorns are also down Kerstetter for the rest of the season, we will get a glimpse at what the future of the offensive line will look like. Freshman center and former four-star recruit Jake Majors got 57 snaps in Kerstetter’s place in this game, and he had his fair share of issues. Majors allowed three quarterback pressures, including one hit and one sack.

Texas also split some time at the left tackle position between sophomore Christian Jones and freshman Andrej Karic. Texas might’ve found something good with Karic, who didn’t allow a single sack or quarterback pressure in playing 26 snaps at the left tackle position. He actually looked to do better than Jones in that spot along the line.

All in all, there were a few positives that Texas saw in the trenches for the future, but the line isn’t in good shape at all for the rest of the current season.