Losing Jordan Hicks and What It Means for Texas

The good news is that the Longhorns beat Kansas State for the first time in 10 years. The bad news? In doing so, they lost linebacker, Jordan Hicks for the rest of the season with a  [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] ruptured Achilles tendon. Hicks is the most athletic of all the linebackers at Texas and losing him to a season ending injury is a big blow. How will the Texas defense compensate with arguably their best defender in a walking boot and crutches?

For the second time in 2 seasons, Hicks finds himself out for the year. Last season, Hicks suffered what was first called a hip injury, but was later determined as a groin injury. He received a medical red shirt in 2012 and was expected to do great things for the Longhorns this year.

Last year, when Hicks went down, Texas had to look to inexperienced backups to fill the void. It was a trial by fire as most of them were true freshman and had never started a game. This year, things are different. As pointed out by Taylor Gaspar of Bleacher Report, the backups are experienced and have played a lot of snaps through the first four games of the 2013 season. Does that mean losing Hicks is not a big deal for the Texas defense? Absolutely not. But the experience gained in 2012 could help the alleviate, and even wipe out the devastation the defense suffered when Hicks went down last season.

Losing Hicks is a big hit against the Texas defense, but it is not the end of the world for the Longhorns. (Let’s not forget the Longhorns allowing 550 yards rushing to BYU occurred two-weeks before Hicks’ injury.) When Mack Brown replaced former defensive coordinator Manny Diaz with Greg Robinson after the second game of the season, most reasonable thinking Texas fans should have known the defense would be a work in progress.

The expectations for the 2013 Texas defense are low, but those expectations were set before Kansas State. Losing Hicks does not help raise the expectations of the Texas defense, but there’s a possibility Hicks’ injury may not be as big of a loss as it was in 2012.

Nobody knows what the future holds for the Texas defense, but until proven otherwise, the experience of the Longhorns two-deep can only help the defense.

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