Texas Football: 3 most impactful absences due to injury this spring

Around 24 hours ago, head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program began the first day of spring practice. Texas began spring ball on March 6, with the first of 15 practices taking place on the Forty Acres.

Although, the Longhorns weren’t fully healthy from the various practice reports we saw and the word that came from Sark himself during his first press conference of the spring on March 6. Sark talked about a few of the injuries that the Longhorns are dealing with this spring.

It sounds like it is a good mix of players that the Longhorns are expecting to miss all of spring ball and some that will be looking to make their way back to practice in the next couple of weeks.

There are also a few Longhorns players that we knew would miss all of spring camp, namely second-year interior offensive linemen Connor Robertson and Cole Hutson.

Maalik Murphy and the key Texas football players that are injured this spring

Here’s a look at three of the most impactful absences due to injury for the Longhorns in spring ball that were reported/announced earlier this week.

Jaylon Guilbeau, DB

There were some rumors and reports that noted sophomore nickelback Jaylon Guilbeau could either be limited or miss spring ball for the Longhorns this offseason. But we didn’t have anything definitive that reported that Guilbeau would be conclusively out for spring ball, as we did the likes of Robertson and Hutson.

Nonetheless, Guilbeau was held out of the first spring practice, at least during the media availability window. He was out due to an apparent lower-body injury that he suffered late last year.

Guilbeau didn’t play in a single game for the Longhorns after he suffered what would be a season-ending injury against the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Week 8.

It goes without saying that the potential of missing Guilbeau for spring ball hurts the depth in Texas’ secondary. Guilbeau was expected to be the definitive backup behind senior defensive back Jahdae Barron at STAR/nickel.

Guilbeau also hasn’t gone through a full spring camp yet while getting reps at the nickel position. He was cross-training at multiple spots in the secondary in camp last offseason.

If Texas is able to get Guilbeau back in full practice before the conclusion of spring ball, that would be huge so that he can try to retake his spot on the two-deep as the backup nickel behind Barron.