The injury suffered by Texas running back Fozzy Whittaker was just as bad as expected in the moment, as the senior leader will miss the rest of his final season as a Longhorn with tears of his ACL and MCL in his right knee, the school announced Sunday evening.
Whittaker finally fulfilled the expectations placed on him by many in the fanbase as a senior, taking advantage of the offseason conditioning program under Bennie Wylie to strengthen his shoulder and add to step to his speed. With nine touchdowns on the season, Whittaker leads the team and was providing a major boost to the struggling Texas redzone offense with his work out of the Wildcat.
More than just his production on the field, which included kickoff returns in two consecutive games, Whittaker had grown into a leader and a mentor for the young Texas running backs this season. In fact, Whittaker was probably the leader for the entire offense and his injury clearly took a great deal out of not only the offense, but the entire team. Following the game, at least two teammates indicated that they walked over to him and told him that they love him after his injury.
Despite the loss, the team still has three regular-season games and a bowl game left to play without Whittaker and will have to move forward. Replacing Whittaker on kick returns may be possible, but his ability to run the Wildcat may be more difficult to replace. Will Texas move Mykkele Thompson over to the offensive side of the ball to work as the trigger man or use Malcolm Brown or Joe Bergeron there?