Texas Football: TE Ja’Tavion Sanders suffers ankle injury vs. Kansas

A couple of notable injuries impacted the game between No. 3 Texas football and the No. 24 ranked Kansas Jayhawks in the first half in a big way on Sep. 30 at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. First, Kansas starting senior quarterback Jalon Daniels was a last-minute addition to the injury report for head coach Lance Leipold and the Jayhawks.

Daniels wasn’t expected to miss this game against Texas, but a back injury forced him out. Sixth-year senior backup quarterback Jason Bean got the start for the Jayhawks in place of the injured Daniels.

Texas football TE Ja’Tavion Sanders suffers an ankle injury in first half vs. Kansas

Unfortunately, the other significant injury in this game was dealt to standout junior Texas tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders. In the first half, it looked like Sanders got rolled up on by a Kansas defender. He was shown limping to the sidelines and couldn’t return to the game in the second quarter.

Later in the first half, Sanders was seen heading to the locker room after getting his ankle taped up. He tried to give it a go on a few drives after suffering the leg injury, but he was in visible pain on the sideline.

With Sanders absent due to injury, junior tight end Gunnar Helm got the starting snaps on offense. Before heading to the locker room in the second quarter, Sanders caught one pass for 10 yards and no touchdowns.

If Sanders misses any extended time in this game or after, that is obviously a detrimental absence for the Longhorns. Sanders leads the FBS in receiving yards after Week 4, with 268 receiving yards on 12 catches, with one touchdown catch.

Sanders has two 100-receiving yard games on the season. And he was the highest-graded tight end in the FBS in Week 4 after putting up over 100 receiving yards on five catches in Texas’ 38-6 win on the road over the Baylor Bears.

We will continue to monitor Sanders’ status for injury updates as this game progresses.