Texas Football: Longhorns Missing More Than Fozzy Whittaker's Legs

This Thursday is a day to give thanks.

But on Thanksgiving night, when the Texas Longhorns play the Texas A&M Aggies for the last time in the Big 12, the Longhorns definitely will not be giving thanks for a certain injury to one of its senior leaders.

Two weeks ago in the game against Missouri, running back Fozzy Whittaker tore both his ACL and MCL on a rough surface in Columbia. In the same game, Tigers back Henry Josey lost his footing as well, resulting in a slew of knee injuries.

With Whittaker out for the season, the Longhorns offense, much less their running game, is missing much more than just his legs.

At a glance, it is clear that the Texas running game, also hampered by setbacks to both Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron, took a serious hit after Whittaker suffered the injuries against Missouri.

In the two games leading up to Missouri, the Longhorns rumbled for 441 and 439 yards respectively against Kansas and Texas Tech. Though Whittaker did have four carries for 15 yards against the Tigers, Texas has amassed just 362 combined yards against Missouri and Kansas State, both of which were turned into losses for the Horns.

As if the Texas offense was lacking multiple dimensions to begin with, the loss of Whittaker has all but stagnated an otherwise physical running game that had carried the Longhorns in recent weeks.

An Extra Step

Whittaker had never filled into a feature back role. In years prior, he had always carried with him the expectations of breakout seasons, and it finally was coming into fruition this season.

While he still did not secure the title of the feature back, his contributions to the Texas offense had never been more evident.

In a season when he was faster, stronger, quicker and most importantly, healthier, Whittaker was providing the Longhorns running game with an extra sizzle as the main attraction in Texas' wildcat formation, a look that had given the Horns tons of success.

Now without a formidable option to head up that formation, the Texas offense has taken a step back and by all accounts has looked very flat in its past two games.

Heart and Soul

Whittaker, a Pearland High School product out of Houston, Texas, had poured all of his energy and passion into the Longhorns program, not allowing the consistent injuries to jar loose his composure to persevere.

With the introduction of Joe Bergeron and Malcolm Brown into the Texas program, the two freshmen have a model of leadership, work ethic and mental toughness to imitate moving forward.

Whittaker embodied a personality of toughness and tenacity when it came to practicing, playing and performing, elements that both Brown and Bergeron will be taking under their wings as their college careers unfold.

When Whittaker was lost for the season, the Longhorns lost much more than his legs and offensive production.