Texas will be without experienced defensive back against TCU

When Texas takes the field on Saturday against TCU, it will be without fifth-year defensive back Josh Thompson. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian reportedly confirmed that Thompson will be out to the Longhorn Network.

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

Coming into the year, Thompson had played in 36 games across four seasons for the Longhorns. Prior to this year, Thompson had 75 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, one interception, and six passes defended in his collegiate career.

Thompson was an All-American at Nacogdoches High School in Texas and was one of the top defensive back recruits out of the state in his class.

Losing an experienced player in Thompson could hurt Texas

With an experienced player like Thompson 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.

“When I think of Gary Patterson, I believe it was the Alamo Bowl when Oregon had a big lead. And I think a lot of teams might have folded their tent in that game. That TCU team continued to fight, continued to battle, and I think went on to win that game in overtime. That game has always kind of just stood out to me. I just thought that was really impressive in the way that they continued to battle and compete and fought their way back into the game and ultimately won the game.”

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. 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.”

Texas and TCU kick off on Saturday at 12 noon ET in Fort Worth, Texas. When they do, Texas will look to find a way to offset the loss of Thompson in its defensive backfield.