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TexasLonghorns

Texas starting OL carted off with injury

Tim Verghese (1)by:Tim Verghese•10/02/21•

TimVerghese

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Tim Warner/Getty Images

Texas starting left guard Denzel Okafor was carted off in the first quarter of the Longhorns matchup with TCU, per Brian Davis of the Austin-American Statesman.

Okafor appeared to suffer a leg injury on running back Bijan Robinson’s 27-yard rushing touchdown to put Texas ahead 10-7.

In place of Okafor, the Longhorns have moved starting right tackle Derek Kerstetter to left guard and moved Andrej Karic to right tackle. 

Okafor, a sixth-year senior, has started every game for the Longhorns this season and entered the 2021 season with 48 appearances, making 14 starts.

Last season, Okafor started all nine regular season games at right guard, but did not play in Texas’ Alamo Bowl win over Colorado.

Texas leads TCU 16-14 early in the second quarter, as the Longhorns looks to win back-to-back conference games after routing Texas Tech 70-35.

Texas is already without fifth-year defensive back Josh Thompson against TCU.

Thompson has played in each of the first four games for Texas this season. He has 15 total tackles, one interception, and a fumble recovery on the season.

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With experienced players like Thompson, and now Okafor out for Texas against TCU, the Longhorns need to be even sharper if they want to come away with the win.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke on Thursday of the challenge of facing a team coached by TCU head coach Gary Patterson.

“I think his teams notoriously play really hard,” Sarkisian said of Patterson on Thursday. “When you just watch the way they play, one game always stands out to me.”

Despite TCU coming off of a loss, Sarkisian knows that Patterson will have his team ready to go on Saturday.

“But all that being said, I think Gary is a very good schematic coach,” he said. “I think they tax you in all three phases. They’re going to challenge you, they’re going to try to take away the things that you do well. They’re going to challenge you on where he thinks there’s weaknesses on your team and they stress you that way. So, it’s one thing , I think they play hard. And two, they’re really schematically sound.”