Seamless transition: Texas offense doesn’t miss a beat when Derek Kerstetter moves to guard

By Colby Gordon

The Texas offensive line didn’t miss a beat when right guard Junior Angilau went down with an injury against the Wildcats.

Derek Kerstetter slid over from right tackle to play right guard, while Denzel Okafor came in to play right tackle.

“It’s [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]‘next man up,’” said Shackelford, who plays center. “Denzel did a really nice job when he came in. He has super-long arms that gives him reach on defenders, and he has experience — it’s not like it’s his first game ever.”

Quarterback Sam Ehlinger noted Texas having a player as versatile as Kerstetter, who can play any position on the offensive line, is a luxury.

“It’s very undervalued,” he said. “Not a lot of people realize how hard that is, to go from playing right tackle half the game, to sliding down and playing guard. He can play any position on the line, and that’s huge for us. If there’s an injury, we know we can put him anywhere and there’s no drop-off.”

From his perspective, Ehlinger said nothing changed schematically with the different personnel.

“We continued to do what we wanted to do in the run game and there was great protection in the passing game,” he said. “Some of K-State’s third-down (defensive alignment) stuff is difficult, so we had to communicate about what our protection was in and there was no drop-off. That was the incredible the way Derek went to right guard and Denzel came in and did a great job.”
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