No. 11 Longhorns have depth to hold down the fort against West Virginia

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas — Yes, No. 11 Texas will be without three starters in the secondary when it faces West Virginia this Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia, and yes, two other members of the defensive backfield are nursing injuries that could limit their effectiveness against the Mountaineers.

But don’t expect Texas coach Tom Herman to fret about the players he won’t have available for the important Big 12 Conference matchup between two teams that are 3-1 overall and 1-0 in Big 12 play. He is[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] ready to go to battle with the players that will be in the field, thank you very much.

“I don’t know that it’s a ‘hold the fort” mentality,’” Herman said when asked about the injuries to the secondary. “We’ve got (safety) Chris Brown, we’ve got (safety) Brandon Jones, and both those guys were, in the first four weeks, were definitely our two biggest playmakers, and D’Shawn Jamison had worked his way into a quasi-starter at the other corner.”

Texas will be without safety Caden Sterns, nickel corner Josh Thompson and cornerback Jalen Green Saturday.

“We’re going to miss those guys for the length of time they’re out,” Herman said, “but we’re pretty confident with the guys that we will be rolling out there this Saturday and for the weeks coming forward.”

Safeties B.J. Foster (hamstring) and DeMarvion Overshown (back), who have missed the last two games, are listed as probable and questionable, respectively, for the West Virginia contest. Foster practiced Sunday and Overshown was set to give it a go Tuesday.

When it comes to a strength of the Texas defense after four games, Herman said he knows it can stop the run, which is a huge key to winning games — see the job the Longhorns did Sept. 21 on Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, the nation’s leading runner, holding him to 121 on 37 carries.

Hubbard rolled off 296 yards on 18 carries last week against No. 24 Kansas State in a 26-13 Oklahoma State win and now has 938 yards on the ground in five games.

“It gives everybody in the organization some confidence knowing that we held such a powerful rushing attack, and obviously not just the attack but the running back himself, to 121 yards,” Herman said of Hubbard and Oklahoma State. “We’ve got a ton of respect for them, and to hold him to 3.3 yards per carry, it makes us all pretty staunch believers in our run defense.”
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