Positional shuffling doesn’t faze Kerstetter
Reagan product nowentrenched at center after playing right tackle and right guard
AUSTIN — Whenever Derek Kerstetter can’t figure out what went wrong, he grabs the phone and texts Zach Shackelford.
The pair spent the past three seasons together on the Texas offensive line. From 2017-19, Shackelford made 31 starts at center, and Kerstetter made 28 starts at right guard and tackle.
Shackelford is now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad, and Kerstetter is a well-traveled senior trying his hand at yet another position. They still talk almost every day.
“Shack’s one of my best friends,” Kerstetter said Tuesday. “He definitely is like a mentor for me. He is giving me tips and things that I can do to help better my technique. If I do have a bad play, I’ll text him, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ or ‘I got beat on this,’ or something like that. He’s a heck of a player, and he knows a lot about football.”
For those who’d been watching, Kerstetter seemed destined to end up at the center of the Texas offensive line, either in a cameo or a full-time capacity.
The Reagan graduate had been creeping closer to the middle of the line since 2017, when as a baby-faced true freshman, Kerstetter became the Longhorns’ unlikely starting right tackle. He made 10 starts at right tackle that season, another at right tackle and four at right guard in 2018, then 12 at right tackle and one at right guard last year.
“A great leader, a great teammate,” Texas senior defensive lineman Ta’quon Graham said Tuesday of Shackelford. “He’s very versatile as an offensive lineman. I feel like you have to be very talented to do all of those things. And to play all those positions, you to be very smart to ID all those things and to make all those calls. So I feel like he’s one of the best players on this team.”
Evenwith all the cross-training offensive linemen do these days, rare is the player capable of starting at three different positions. Texas has a few positional converts on this roster — Roschon Johnson (QB to RB), Jordan Whittington (RB to WR), Reese Leitao (TE to Jack LB), Demarvion Overshown (S to Jack LB) — but Kerstetter has been doing this shuffle for years.
So, it wasn’t surprising once coaches and teammates started raving about Kerstetter’s smooth transition this offseason. His ability to slide to center allowed Texas offensive line coach Herb
Hand to pair potential first-round pick Sam Cosmi and redshirt sophomore Junior Angilau on the left side, then insert fifth-year senior Denzel Okafor at right guard and redshirt sophomore Christian Jones at right tackle.
The early returns were as strong as coach Tomherman and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich could’ve hoped. No. 8 Texas (1-0) gained 498 yards of offense and scored 45 points in the first half of its 59-3 rout of UTEP, and Kerstetter looked comfortable in his new spot.
“It’s been different,” Kerstetter said. “I mean, I played tackle a long time. I used to play (center)
as kind of an emergency role, but now being the full-time guy and getting all the reps, it’s been a transition. I think I’ve really started to welcome the role, and I’ve enjoyed it because that’swhatmy team needs. So, I was happy to move there.”
After three years of handling snaps from Shackleford, Ehlinger had to establish a rapport with the replacement. It took time, especially with the pair unable to train together with spring football canceled and campus closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, it was only a matter of time before these two members of UT’S 2017 signing class, Herman’s first, got in sync. That relationship was on display in the opener as Ehlinger completed 25 of 33 passes for 426 yards and five touchdowns against minimal pressure.
“He understands the role and the communication that it really takes to play center,” Ehlinger said Tuesday. “You know, it’s a little bit different, because he’s calling out IDS, he’s calling out protections and calls and everything, where at right tackle you’re waiting for the center to call it out.
“I think he’s done a great job of communicating. He’s a guy that focuses on every single little detail every day, and I feel extremely comfortable with him snapping the ball to me.”
Welcome as Ehlinger’s praise is, Kerstetter is nowhere near a finished product. One successful outing against an overmatched UTEP team doesn’t make an AllBig 12 center. It all gets harder during conference play, which the Longhorns start Saturday against Texas Tech at AT&T Jones Stadium.
Butkerstetter at least looks the part, and if this Texas offense keeps up the fireworks in 2020 then Shackelford’s cellphone won’t buzz quite as much this fall.