3 injured Texas football players that should be available vs. Kansas State

Ryan Watts, CB

One of the biggest returns from injury this weekend for Texas in the secondary could involve the impactful redshirt sophomore boundary corner Ryan Watts. Texas hasn’t seen a healthy Watts on a consistent basis for much of the season in Big 12 play.

In the last few games, Watts was limited by various injury issues. But this one looks like a hamstring injury that hampered him coming out of the loss to Oklahoma State and then the bye week.

Yet, all indicators are pointing to the bye week arriving at the perfect time for Watts and the Longhorns. This allowed some players that were dealing with lingering bumps and bruises in the last few games the extra week to rest up and get ready for potentially the biggest road game of the season to date.

On Nov. 3, we talked about Watts likely being available against Kansas State.

Moreover, in the last couple of games, Watts was on and off the field due to injury issues. He only played in 21 defensive snaps in the win over the Iowa State Cyclones on Oct. 15. And then, he missed a couple dozen defensive snaps in the second half in the loss to Oklahoma State on Oct. 22.

Then, the question will be whether the third-year corner will be able to make it through the game with a full load of defensive snaps.

Watts is clearly an incredibly important part of this defense. When he was healthier in the first half against Oklahoma State, quarterback Spencer Sanders and the Pokes offense weren’t finding near as much success on the boundary. Watts also came up with a big interception in the red zone against Oklahoma State that turned momentum at that point in the game.

If Watts is fully healthy for the Kansas Stat game this weekend, that would obviously be massive for this secondary.