With Ryan Pulley’s injury, Bret Bielema and Paul Rhodes have to figure out who is going to fill those big shoes. With TCU coming to town, they don’t have much time. The Horned Frogs threw for exactly 300 yards, albeit against a weaker opponent, but still are a threat.

There were a few options as to who to put in the starting role after Pulley went down. The coaching staff threw around the names of Kamren Curl, Kevin Richardson, and Britto Tutt. When the depth chart was released, Curl was in the starting spot. Tutt missed last season due to injury, and moving Richardson would cause a lot more moves in the secondary. It would push Josh Liddell to the nickelback, and DeAndre Coley would make the start at safety. Maybe that gets worked on during the bye week, but will little time to prepare. The most direct choice was made.

So who is Kamren Curl? He wasn’t as highly ranked as fellow DB commits Montaric Brown and Chevin Calloway, but had some high profile offers. Curl picked the Hogs over his home state Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. He had an offer from nearly every Big 12 school and Ole Miss.

Curl did get a significant amount of playing time against Florida A&M so we have an idea of what he brings to the table. He will likely be on the short side of the field, the side most college teams throw the ball to, like in this play he broke up in the third quarter.

In this 3rd down situation FAMU tried to run a basic curl route. Curl started well but broke with his receiver late. He did make a good recovery and was physical separating his man from the ball. It’s a solid play but he may not be able to get away with that late break against a more sure-handed receiver.

He finished the game with three tackles, tied for 5th for the Hogs in the game. He made a couple of open field tackles, but none were in very crucial situations. Again, tackling Kavontae Turpin will be more difficult than anyone the Rattlers had.

Curl will be the first true freshman to start for the defense this season, and he will be asked to do quite a bit. It’s just one more uncertainty for a big game against the Horned Frogs, but Curl’s game will be a storyline to certainly keep an eye on.