Just prior to the season opener, Tom Herman said, “Excitingly I think our strength on both sides of the ball is the line, offensive and defensive lines.” He added “I think we still need to find a consistent, product right tackle. Those other four guys may be the national championship year at Ohio State that I was a part of, that might be the only other offensive line that could compare with these guys. So I’m excited to see them play.”
The offensive line had already suffered one injury when Herman made this statement as junior Elijah Rodriguez went down with an ankle injury a week into fall camp. He was the top backup in 2016 appearing in every game and starting 3 at multiple positions. Rodriguez was leading the battle for the right tackle job over incumbent Tristan Nickelson and talented sophomore Denzel Okafor at the time of his injury. The staff had already lost another tackle in former top recruit Jean Delance who decided to transfer to Florida just prior to the season.
Even with the losses, here is the group Herman was confident with heading into the season.
1. Connor Williams, LT
2. Patrick Vahe, LG
3. Jake McMillon, RG
4. Elijah Rodriguez, RT (Suffered ankle injury August 8th)
5. Zach Shackelford, C
The team planned to use 3 backups regularly to have a solid 8-man rotation on game days.
6. Patrick Hudson
7. Tristan Nickelson
8. Denzel Okafor
So, what happened?
The season ending injury to Rodriguez prior to the season immediately forced offensive line coach Derek Warehime into his depth inserting senior Tristan Nickelson into the lineup at RT vs Maryland. Nickelson has struggled to execute his blocks due to his 6-10 frame making it difficult to generate leverage against his opponent. He also lacks the quick feet to consistently handle speed rushers on the outside.
You may recall that Connor Williams had his worst game while at Texas vs Maryland giving up pressure and committing 2 crushing holding penalties late in the 4th quarter. Patrick Vahe struggled in pass protection causing Shane Buechele to run for his life even when the opponent brought just 3 defenders. The line struggled to pick up blitzes primarily due to miscommunication instead of ability, adding to the frustration at a perceived strength of the team.
Texas dominated San Jose State 56-0 in week 2 and one of the highlight plays in the game was redshirt freshman guard Patrick Hudson helping Chris Warren into the endzone for a score in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, on the next possession, Hudson suffered a torn ACL in his knee and would be lost for the season.
Herman has now lost his starting right tackle and his top interior backup lineman. This makes the line extremely thin and not able to withstand any more injuries or underperforming starters heading into week 3.
The most devastating injury of all strikes in that week 3 matchup vs USC as left tackle Connor Williams goes down with a knee injury. This forces Denzel Okafor into the game to play on the right side and Nickelson to flip to the left. Okafor has all the tools for the position and Herman was hopeful he would earn more playing time possibly starting this season. However, the plan was not to play him extensively unless he earned it based on performance.
Texas enters conference play down 3 linemen from their top 6, has zero depth and weak at offensive tackle to run the ball on the perimeter and making them vulnerable on the pass rush.
During the bye week after USC, Herman decided to further change things up and give an opportunity to true freshman Derek Kerstetter over Okafor at right tackle. The three-star recruit Kerstetter impressed Herman during the bye week with his toughness and willingness to get physical in the trenches. “He’s still got years worth of development from a strength and size standpoint to work on. But this is a guy that’s going to scratch and claw and scrape for everything and give you everything he’s got to make sure his guy doesn’t make the tackle,” Herman said.
Let’s take another look at the top lineman as the Longhorns enter conference play vs Iowa State.
1. Connor Williams, LT (hurt knee Sept 16th, underwent surgery)
2. Patrick Vahe, LG
3. Jake McMillon, RG
4. Elijah Rodriguez, RT (hurt August 8th with high ankle sprain and season ending surgery)
5. Zach Shackelford, C
6. Patrick Hudson, OG (Torn ACL Sept 9th ending his season)
7. Denzel Okafor, OT (Dropped due to performance)
8. Tristan Nickelson, LT
9. Derek Kerstetter, RT
As a result, the offense began to grind to a halt and failed to generate yards outside of the improvised Sam Ehlinger rollout and just find someone open.
The unit is hit again in their next game October 7th vs Kansas State when right guard Jake McMillon suffers a hand injury. Without any quality depth, the team turns to junior Terrell Cuney to start at guard against Oklahoma. Cuney arrived at Texas in 2014 as a highly touted center recruit but has only played in 4 games over 3 years in Austin.
The injury to McMillon caused him to miss 2 games and also appeared to have severely impacted sophomore center Zach Shackelford. He’s since had issues snapping the ball and handling bull rushers lined up on his nose at the snap. He lacks the strength to be able to anchor and doesn’t have the support from McMillion he had earlier in the season. Pressure up the middle at the snap is the easiest way to disrupt an offense and Shackelford was unable to prevent this against Oklahoma State in their latest loss.
While offensive coordinator Tim Beck can be criticized for his lateral offense and refusal to use the middle of the field, this offensive line restricts the offense’s ability to compete consistently.
Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells says, “you are what your record says you are” and these Longhorns are a bad football team with a 3-4 record.
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