Texas Football: Roschon Johnson, Sam Ehlinger dealing with injuries

Entering Week 3 of the 2020 season, the Texas football program will be looking to stay healthy and stave off a potential upset bid from TCU.

Week 3 will be big for the Texas football program, as they take on the TCU Horned Frogs in their Big 12 home opener on Oct. 3 (kick off set for 11 a.m. CT at DKR). Texas will be looking for their third win of the season in total, and their second in Big 12 play.

But not all of the big names for the Longhorns will be 100 percent healthy it seems heading into this game. Senior star quarterback Sam Ehlinger and sophomore running back Roschon Johnson are reportedly (Horns247 paid content) dealing with various injuries that limited them in practice this week.

The injury that Ehlinger is dealing with stems from the Longhorns Sep. 26 road win in their Big 12 opener over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, by the final score of 63-56 in thrilling comeback fashion in overtime. It was initially known that he had suffered a contusion to his right quad, and apparently he was limited in practice all week.

Ehlinger is also dealing with some soreness in his left hand that stemmed from a play also in the win over Texas Tech. It apparently made taking snaps difficult against Texas Tech, and he stated that it will be about dealing and managing with the pain against TCU this weekend. He should be ready to go to start against the Horned Frogs.

And Roschon’s injury was also one that he suffered against the Red Raiders. He has some rib soreness after taking a hit on a play against Texas Tech. Johnson was also limited in practice this week, but is expected to play against TCU.

These are injuries worth noting heading into the Longhorns Big 12 home opener, but it shouldn’t keep these two key skill position players off the field to start the game. Texas should also see sophomore wide receiver Jake Smith make his season debut against TCU after missing the last two games with a non-novel coronavirus related illness and a hamstring injury.

Texas will still be missing redshirt freshman wide receiver Jordan Whittington, who came up with a small meniscus tear in the win over the UTEP Miners back on Sep. 12. Whittington underwent successful surgery prior to last weekend’s Big 12 opener.

The Longhorns come into this game with a record of 2-0 (1-0 Big 12), after dominating UTEP in their season opener and barely slipping past Texas Tech in Lubbock last week. Meanwhile, TCU comes into the game with a 0-1 (0-1 Big 12) record after falling short against the Iowa State Cyclones at home in their de facto season opener.