Longhorns Country

Texas Loses OL Denzel Okafor For Season

The Longhorns may have just suffered a major set back along the offensive line

Matt Galatzan

Texas likely was to play without starting left guard Denzel Okafor this week against Oklahoma. Now, they’ll be without him for good. 

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian announced Monday that Okafor would undergo surgery this week, thus ending his 2021 season. 

The sixth-year offensive lineman went down midway through the first quarter after his leg was rolled up on in the wash of a Bijan Robinson score, and subsequently had to be helped to the sideline. 

Okafor was eventually taken to the locker room on a cart for further evaluation.

READ MORE: Texas Must Pound The Rock To Beat TCU

The injury occurred on the outside zone run that Robinson would eventually get into the end zone, to put Texas up 10-7. 

In place of Okafor, the Horns moved right tackle Derek Kerstetter to left guard and moved Andrej Karic to right tackle. 

Okafor, who originally signed with the Longhorns in 2016, returned to the Horns thanks to the extra year of eligibility that came along with the COVID shorted 2020 season. 

READ MORE: RB Rivals: Texas' Robinson vs. TCU's Evans Make Their Teams Go

Entering Saturday's game, Okafor had made 48 appearances including 14 starts with the Longhorns and has been one of the most consistent offensive linemen on the roster.

Sarkisian announced that starting cornerback Josh Thompson was expected to return after missing the team’s victory over TCU with a concussion. 

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Matt Galatzan
MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.

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