By Colby Gordon, Contributing Writer
The road to realizing their preseason dreams begins this week for the Texas football team.
The Longhorns head to West Virginia this week for its first Big 12 road game of the season Saturday. While the Week 3 win over Rice at NRG Stadium in Houston was technically a road game, players know it will be a true road atmosphere when they take the field this week for a Big 12 showdown.
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“I like playing in Morgantown,” senior offensive lineman Zach Shackelford said. “It’s always an electric atmosphere. There’s a bunch of college towns around the Big 12, which is cool when we go on the road and get to experience that. … You just take what you see on film and amplify it because they’re going to be juiced up that they have a ranked opponent and Texas is coming to town”
The Mountaineers (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) have a reputation for its fans being rowdy, and the Texas upperclassmen have told some of the younger players on the team to be prepared and ignore any heckling coming from the stands.
“The fans can’t play,” senior defensive lineman Malcolm Roach said. “They can do all the talking they want to, but they’re not going to be on the field playing and going through what we’re going through. It’s still, at the end of the day, one team against the other team. Block out the noise and just get ready to play football like we’ve been playing.”
Though Roach has told the players who haven’t been to Morgantown to ignore what’s going on off the field, he might open his ears to what the Mountaineer fans are saying to him.
“If I feel like I need some extra motivation, I might listen to what they have to say,” he said.
Two years ago, Texas (3-1, 1-0) jumped ahead early and led 14-0 at the half. That’s a strategy the Longhorns would like to utilize again to keep the noise level to a minimum.
“When you don’t give them anything to cheer about, there’s nothing they can say,” Roach said.
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Pay for play?
Ehlinger has been a strong proponent of student-athletes being allowed to be compensated for their image and likeness. With the state of California recently passing a bill that will allow student-athletes to get paid for that, he noted things are going in the right direction.
“I think it’s a great start,” Ehlinger said. “I still believe players should benefit off their likeness. Unfortunately I know the bill isn’t supposed to see any progress until 2023, so I don’t really dive into the details of what should happened or what states should do. But I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
The bill would not take effect until 2023.
Kerstetter noted he is familiar with the bill, but hasn’t thought much about its impact.
“I honestly haven’t read anything about it,” Kerstetter said. “I’ve heard of it, but I really don’t know anything about the details.”
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Duvernay doing damage
Senior wide receiver Devin Duvernay was named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list last week, which is given to the top wideout in the country, but he hasn’t given much of his time concerning it.
“It’s pretty cool to see that, personally,” he said. “But I didn’t pay that much attention to it.”
The chemistry Duvernay and Ehlinger have developed with each other is something that’s led to success for both of them.
“I’m extremely comfortable with the way he runs routes and where he’s going to be,” Ehlinger said. “There’s something to be said about knowing how your receivers run and how they make cuts.”
Duvernay already has 39 catches for 377 yards and four touchdowns through the first four games. Last year he set career highs for catches with 41 and yards with 546, numbers he’s already close to eclipsing. And he’s already matched his career-high four touchdowns from a year ago.
“But I’ve had that comfort with him for three years. He’s an extremely smart football player who is really comfortable with the offense,” Ehlinger said. “He’s extremely talented in every aspect of being a receiver. It’s really hard to cover him and it’s really hard to tackle him and those two combined make a really good receiver.
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Birthday boys
Both Ehlinger and Kerstetter celebrated birthdays within the last few days, with both taking time for minor celebrations.
“I went home and had dinner with my family and then came right back to campus,” said Ehlinger, who grew up a few miles from campus while playing at Westlake. “I love steak, so we had steak, and my favorite dessert is brownie and ice cream, so my mom made that.”
Shackelford and some of the other offensive linemen bought Kerstetter a cookie cake and took him to Chipotle.
“I firmly believe Chipotle is the best restaurant in Austin,” Kerstetter said with a laugh. “It’s great for you, it’s a great budget option and it’s great food.”
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