Texas Football: 3 key injured players that returned to practice this week

Earlier this week, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian returned to practice following the conclusion of spring break. Texas got roughly 10 days between the last practice on the first week of spring ball (March 10) and the first practice after spring break (March 21).

Sark and the Longhorns got some positive injury updates early this week upon the return to spring drills. Multiple players were able to return to drills this week. And it sounds like a handful of other players are getting closer to making their respective returns to practice, or at least for summer workouts in a few months.

This is a big week of spring practice for the Longhorns, so it’s good to hear about some of these positive injury updates in the last 24 hours or so. Texas will take part in a weekend practice/scrimmage for the first time this spring on March 24 and/or 25.

There is also a big recruiting weekend coming up that adds more stakes to this week in spring ball, as the second Junior Day will take place on March 25.

Important Texas football players that returned to practice for the first time this spring

With all of this in mind, here’s a look at three key players for the Longhorns that returned from injury to spring practice this week.

Jonathon Brooks, RB

The running back room was able to get healed up in the last few weeks, including the second-most experienced returning player at the position this year. Redshirt sophomore running back Jonathon Brooks returned to full-pads practice for the first time since bowl practice a few months ago on March 21.

A practice report from CJ Vogel of TFB Texas on March 21 (donor content) noted that Brooks took the first-team reps at running back in the first spring practice of the week. This was reportedly the first time this spring camp that Brooks was a full participant in full-pads drills.

Brooks dealt with a hernia issue that limited him during the first week of spring ball. He underwent a procedure early this offseason but wasn’t expected to miss much time.

In Brooks’ absence in the first week of spring ball, sophomore Jaydon Blue took the first-team reps in running back drills, then followed by second-team running back and true freshman CJ Baxter Jr.

With Brooks returning to spring drills this week, that only leaves redshirt senior Keilan Robinson as the running back that is limited in practice due to injury issues. Robinson is dealing with a lower-body injury that kept him out from being a full participant in drills from what the media could see last week.