{"id":7070,"date":"2025-10-16T18:39:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/7070\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T18:39:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:39:07","slug":"with-starting-center-cole-hutson-out-vs-kentucky-texas-turns-to-experienced-backup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/7070\/","title":{"rendered":"With starting center Cole Hutson out vs. Kentucky, Texas turns to experienced backup"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, TX \u2014 Starting center Cole Hutson won\u2019t start when Texas<\/a> faces Kentucky at Kroger Field on Saturday, but he has an experience replacement to help fill his shoes in the meantime. <\/p>\n

Hutson was listed as out in the SEC availability report<\/a>, along with wide receiver Aaron Butler and linebacker Jonathan Cunningham. Connor Robertson, a fourth-year offensive lineman, will replace Hutson at center.<\/p>\n

Head coach Steve Sarkisian<\/a> addressed Hutson\u2019s injury in Thursday\u2019s media availability, saying it wasn\u2019t season-ending, but that he would need some time to recover. <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, he\u2019ll be back sooner rather than later,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cTime will tell. We have another player on the team who has a very similar injury who bounced back probably quicker than we anticipated, so hopefully he\u2019s not out very long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

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As a fourth-year offensive lineman who has played in 42 games, Hutson brings much-needed experience to this year\u2019s offensive line. He started at center in four games so far this season, missing Sam Houston due to a separate injury. Robertson took over for Hutson during that game, earning his first career start<\/p>\n

Robertson has been with Texas football for four years and has appeared in 23 career games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about continuity, it\u2019s not like we\u2019re throwing a new guy in there at the center,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cThis guy\u2019s been in the program, he\u2019s been in the system. He knows all the calls, so we\u2019re very comfortable with him that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

One important factor to consider when starting a new center is their connection with the quarterback. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got really good rapport with Arch [Manning],\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cThey\u2019re very close, and I think that there\u2019s some connectivity there, which is important [for] the quarterback and the center. <\/p>\n

Texas prediction: Can Longhorns avoid upset in trap game vs. Kentucky?<\/a>Cowboys mock draft 2026: Latest ESPN projection has Dallas taking Texas Tech pass rusher<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, TX \u2014 Starting center Cole Hutson won\u2019t start when Texas faces Kentucky at Kroger Field on Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3231,27,29,537,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-7070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-steve-sarkisian","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-longhorns","12":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}