Projecting the Texas depth chart for the Alamo Bowl against Colorado

The No. 20 Texas Longhorns will make the short trip down to San Antonio next Tuesday for the Alamo Bowl against the Colorado Buffaloes.

The school’s depth chart does not reveal which players will miss the game due to COVID-19 protocols and head coach Tom Herman declined to provide any further details beyond his Sunday comments that several players will be out. So several players listed below will not participate against the Buffaloes.

And there are also several players listed who have either opted out or are currently in the NCAA transfer portal in junior wide receiver Brennan Eagles, redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Daniel Carson, and freshman Spur Xavion Alford.

In addition, the school’s depth chart does not reflect recent position changes — redshirt junior Montrell Estell from safety to wide receiver and the cross training of junior Jalen Green at cornerback and a suddenly-thin safety position.

So let’s attempt a more accurate look at the Colorado depth chart.

— With Eagles out, Estell slots in at the X position. It’s possible that he could receive some playing time there behind graduate transfer Tarik Black, but it’s probably more likely that redshirt sophomore Joshua Moore spends some time at the X and graduate transfer Brenden Schooler fills in at Z, his more natural position than H.

— Freshman Andrej Karic is now officially the co-starter at left tackle following the injury to senior center Derek Kerstetter against Kansas State. Redshirt sophomore Christian Jones is no longer listed as the co-starter there and is solely back on the right side, where he’s started all season.

— Freshmen Logan Parr and Jaylen Garth both make appearances as the backup left guard and the co-backup at right tackle, respectively.

— Freshman Jake Majors is the starter at center. He was previously listed as a co-backup with redshirt sophomore Rafiti Ghirmai.

— The biggest surprise along the offensive line is redshirt senior Tope Imade listed as the co-backup to Jones at right tackle. Along with redshirt senior Denzel Okafor, the starter at right guard, Imade announced this week that he’ll return for the 2021 season.

— Freshman defensive tackle Alfred Collins is the starter with the opt out from senior Ta’Quon Graham. Since redshirt sophomore Daniel Carson recently entered the NCAA transfer portal and transferred to Western Illinois, freshman Vernon Broughton will serve as the backup to Collins at the three technique.

— Herman said that redshirt junior Reese Leitao and former walk-on Jett Bush will receive the majority of the snaps with the opt out of Joseph Ossai, but freshman Prince Dorbah could also receive some playing time, so he’s listed here on the depth chart.

— Alford is not included on the depth chart at Spur since he’s in the portal.

— With the opt outs from Caden Sterns and Chris Brown and Estell’s move to wide receiver, there’s not much depth at the safety position, but junior Jalen Green has been cross training there in practice and that’s a move that could stick with the arrival of McNeese State graduate transfer cornerback for the 2021 season.