Kerstetter a versatile fixture on the line
AUSTIN — Nerves. That’s what Texas junior Derek Kerstetter remembers about his first game as a Longhorn.
He, of course, never expected to start two seasons ago as a freshman. Then All-American left tackle Connor Williams went down with a knee injury in Week 3 against USC, leaving coach Tom Herman scrambling for options.
Tristan Nickelson shifted over to Williams’ spot and Denzel Okafor was expected to start at right tackle. But when Texas took the field at Jack Trice Stadium, it was the former Reagan All-American who trotted out with the starters.
“The first week I was a little nervous,” said Kerstetter, now with 18 starts to his name. “I mean, who wouldn’t be? I was going to Iowa State for my first start and I hadn’t been in a real live game, so I didn’t know what the difference was.
“But once I got that first play over with I was like, OK, it’s just football, it’s what I’ve been doing for a long time. It’s faster, but once the first play is over the pressure is gone and you’re ready to play.”
It was how Texas closed that 17-7 win that instilled Kerstetter with confidence moving forward.
With 7:35 remaining, Texas took over at its own 34-yard line. What ensued was an old-school, smashmouth, 13-play drive. Every single play was a run. The Cyclones never touched the ball again.
Kersetter started the rest of the games, including the Longhorns’ 33-16 victory over Missouri in the Texas Bowl, the program’s first postseason victory since 2012.
“It just showed us that we can grind it, hold the ball if we need to,” Kerstetter said of that drive in 2017. “We can waste clock if we’re ahead and run some time off. It gave us confidence going into that next week and showed us we can do some big things up front.”
Now a jack-of-all-trades junior, Kerstetter is back at right tackle. Though he has shuffled around the line, both this year and last, playing right guard and center when necessary.
Sometimes the shifts have come in the midst of a game, like last week against Rice when he moved to center to fill in for an injured Zach Shackelford. Offensive line coach Herb Hand crosstrains all of his linemen, but Kerstetter seems the most adept a reacclimating at a moment’s notice.
“I can play all five (positions), whatever is necessary,” Kerstetter said. “I think for me, it’s just understanding the game, trying to learn from what coach Hand is teaching us.
“He puts us into game-like situations in camp and mixes us around. I was playing multiple positions in camp in case something happened where I needed to go over to a different one.”
Offensive linemen are used to toiling in obscurity. They don’t have easily digestible stats to peruse and quarrel over. They are rarely showcased in highlight reels. Plenty of casual fans scarcely know their names.
That doesn’t bother Kerstetter, though he admittedly wouldn’t mind a few more headlines. But the love — and the occasionally donut delivery — the Longhorns’ linemen receive from quarterback Sam Ehlinger, running back Keaontay Ingram and the rest of the skill position players is more than enough.
“We want it that way, man,” Kerstetter said. “Sam, he’s such a great quarterback, so loving to his offensive linemen. Same with Keaontay. They love up on us.
“We love that they get all the hype and we just are doing the, not necessarily the dirty work, but blocking for them because they do such a good job of showing us love even though we don’t get the headlines from the reporters. We don’t care about that
type of stuff.”
But without their play, UT wouldn’t own one of the nation’s most dynamic, high-scoring offenses.
No. 12 Texas (2-1) ranks among the top 30 in passing offense, total offense, scoring offense and third-down conversion percentage. Oklahoma State, Saturday night’s opponent, has posted even more outrageous offensive numbers, setting up a likely highscoring clash at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
Kerstetter and Co. certainly seem up to the task as a cohesive unit.
“We’re all brothers, we’re all tight, we all have each other’s backs and we all love each other,” he said of the linemen. “We’ll go to war for each other, do whatever is necessary to see each other happy.”
So far, they’ve made Texas fans pretty happy, even if they’re not exactly dominating the front page.