Texas S Brandon Jones ruled out for West Virginia game

Starting safety Brandon Jones was not out with his Texas Longhorns teammates on Saturday before the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers due to an ankle injury.

Minutes before kickoff, he was officially ruled out.

The injury occurred at some point since head coach Tom Herman met with the media on Thursday and means that the Horns won’t have the team’s second-leading tackler on the field against the explosive offense of the Mountaineers.

Jones missed the Tulsa game earlier in the season due to a high ankle sprain he suffered in the season opener, but has largely been a reliable presence on the back end despite struggling last weekend. The junior has four tackles for loss and two interceptions to go along with his 52 tackles.

When Jones was out against the Golden Hurricane, the Longhorns moved senior nickel back PJ Locke III back to safety and played sophomore Josh Thompson in the nickel. Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando could also choose to leave Locke at nickel and play sophomore Chris Brown at safety, but based on warmups, Locke will play safety.