Texas Football: 3 players that benefit most from Casey Thompson starting

Derek Kerstetter

It feels like I’ve almost picked on the redshirt senior offensive tackle Derek Kerstetter to a never-ending degree since the night of the loss to the Hogs. And a lot of the reason for that is how far short Kerstetter has fallen compared to where expectations sat for him in the preseason.

Coming into this season, Kerstetter looked to be someone that new offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood could rely on consistently to anchor this group in the trenches. Instead, Kerstetter has really struggled to get going in pass protection. He did improve his run blocking grade in Week 2, but he’s still got a long way to go in that regard too.

Of all players that you could’ve predicted to get off to a slow start this fall, Kerstetter had to be near the top of the list. He underwent a brutal season-ending injury last fall in the regular season finale against the Kansas State Wildcats. And Kerstetter moved positions from center back to right tackle. It was hard to see anything but a slow start for Kerstetter out of the gates this fall.

Nonetheless, the improvement should be pretty sudden for the super-senior offensive lineman by the time the start of Big 12 play arrives on Sep. 25. Expect Kerstetter to be able to perform a little bit better at least in pass blocking with a more mobile quarterback that can also get the ball out faster in Thompson compared to Card.

And once the offense gets in a better rhythm, the comfort level should start to form together more naturally for Kerstetter. Comparatively, it should be easier for Kerstetter to hold up in pass protection for a quarterback in Thompson that gets the ball out of his hands in usually around 2.5-3 seconds, compared to around four+ for Card.