3 key injured Texas football players vs. Oklahoma State
Ryan Watts, CB
For the second straight week, the costliest of the injuries dealt to Texas was to redshirt sophomore cornerback Ryan Watts. The 6-foot-3 starting boundary corner was in and out of this game after he was helped off the field on a play that saw both him and senior edge rusher Ovie Oghoufo come up hobbled.
But Oghoufo was looking healthier down the stretch in this game, while Watts was not seen on the field very much in the fourth quarter. Watts played in just over 50 defensive snaps in this game. And he played in just 20 snaps on defense in the win over Iowa State last weekend.
In the win over Iowa State, Watts exited the game pretty early on after suffering an upper-body injury. But it was hard to tell the nature of Watts’ injury this weekend.
In the absence of Watts, we saw junior defensive back Jahdae Barron play some snaps at cornerback. Sophomore cornerback Jamier Johnson also got some snaps in the second half, where he gave up one completion on one target in pass coverage, good for 22 yards.
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The value that Watts brings to the table for this secondary was quite clear in the last two weeks. He allowed a team-best 25.0 QBR on targets in pass coverage in this game. And he came up with the only pick of the game for Texas against Sanders and the Pokes on a well-played ball that was thrown to freshman wide receiver Stephon Johnson Jr.