Texas Football: Joshua Moore, Jordan Whittington will return vs. Iowa St

Texas football head coach Tom Herman looks to get two key wide receivers back for a massive matchup with Iowa State on Black Friday.

The weekly press conference for fourth-year Texas football head coach Tom Herman last week was much more eventful in a non-constructive way than it was this week. This week, it mostly involved Herman talking on injury updates, the de facto double bye week his team is coming off of, and the preparation for the huge Black Friday showdown on Nov. 27 at home against the No. 15 ranked Iowa State Cyclones.

Texas enters the Iowa State game this week with a record of 5-2 (4-2 Big 12), with their last game resulting in a narrow win over the West Virginia Mountaineers at home back on Nov. 7, by the final score of 17-13. They hold the No. 20 slot in this week’s AP Poll, and No. 22 in the Coaches Poll.

And in this week’s press conference, it’s hard to argue that the most important thing that Herman discussed was not injury updates. The Longhorns had a plethora of bumps and bruises worth concern after the West Virginia game. But they got a double bye week and were able to heal up in the process.

With that in mind, it appears that the Longhorns are getting some players at key positions back for the first time in a while. Texas is set to get the former highly touted five-star recruit and redshirt freshman slot wide receiver Jordan Whittington back for the first time since the loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in four overtimes back on Oct. 10 in the Red River Rivalry game.

What Texas football is getting back

Whittington dealt with a plethora of injury issues since he first arrived on the Forty Acres last year. He most recently dealt with soft tissue injuries in his upper body and had to get knee surgery earlier in the year to repair a small tear in his meniscus.

Moreover, Texas is set to get their leading receiver back this weekend, in redshirt sophomore Joshua Moore. Having to exit the game that resulted in a road win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys back on Oct. 31 with a shoulder injury, Moore also missed the West Virginia game more than two weeks ago.

Both Moore and Whittington are back at practice this week. Texas is also expected to have sophomore tight end Jared Wiley back this weekend, and he is back at practice this week too. The only notable player that still remains questionable, but could go against Iowa State, is junior running back Keaontay Ingram.

What Texas is getting back out of Whittington is an explosive threat that can make plays all over the field. He’s registered 125 total yards from scrimmage and no touchdowns in the slight bit of two games he’s played in so far this season.

And what the Longhorns are getting back out of Moore is a versatile and reliable threat with the receiving corps that’s registered 22 catches for 343 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches in four complete games played this year. Moore has started in five games, but only played on a few drives before having to exit the Oklahoma State game with that aforementioned shoulder injury.