Steve Sarkisian on the players who must step up with Jacoby Jones, Jordan Whittington out

The Texas Longhorns have another big match-up this weekend against a rival north of the border. Saturday, they will take on the undefeated Oklahoma State Cowboys at home. A win against the Cowboys this weekend will go a long way and keep the Longhorns’ Big 12 championship hopes alive.

As they prepare for this marquee matchup they are doing it without key playmakers on both sides of the ball. In last week’s thrilling loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, the Longhorns lost linebacker Jacoby Jones and receiver Jordan Whittington in the process. On Monday, head coach Steve Sarkisian addressed the media and went over what players we can expect to fill in for his two playmakers.

Sarkisian on fulling those roles

“The guy who is probably made some of the best progress for us defensively has been Alfred Collins. He’s really played well the last two weeks. So I think this is a great opportunity for him to get more playing time on that front. Obviously, Ove (DeMarvion Overshown) has played really well. Now with the combination of he and Ray (Thornton) and it was great to see Ben Davis in. He’s been working back from that foot thing here since the summer, and when he gets in, he forces the fumble. So I think we’ve got adequate people to step in and do that and play at a high level.”

Overshown currently leads the team in tackles with 52. And with Davis coming back that gives the Longhorns at least four solid linebackers, including Luke Brockermyer. But offensively it’s a little different for the Longhorns as Sarkisian went on to explain.

“From Jordan’s perspective, Marcus Washington has been playing a fair amount of football for us; so Marcus will step in. Kelvontay Dixon has an opportunity for him to step up and then at that point, it’s who else can step up beyond that. But, it’s also what can we do from a personnel standpoint to maybe take some of the stress off of those guys; whether it’s multiple tight ends, running backs. Whatever that looks like to remain creative but also still run our schemes at a high level.”

Plan for the offense

Whatever Texas comes up with, it will have to be a plan to cover the level of productivity that came with Whittington. On the year, he has 24 catches for 359 yards and three touchdowns. He is the Longhorn’s second lead receiver in almost all receiving categories. Outside of Whittington, Xavier Worthy, and Joshua Moore, Texas has little to no productivity from the rest of its receiving core.

This Saturday. the Texas Longhorns will get the chance to show how they will operate without Jones and Wittington. If they can knock off Oklahoma State, they will draw one step closer to getting into the Big 12 Championship game. And that game could be a rematch of last week’s instant classic Red River Showdown.