Regarding health, the bye week was a good time for head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas football. Texas entered the bye week with more bumps and bruises than it had at any point prior this season.
In the loss to the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry game on Oct. 7, the Longhorns lost multiple starters due to injury. That piled on two key starters who suffered injuries in Texas’ win the week prior against the No. 24 Kansas Jayhawks.
All told, the Longhorns were down nearly a half-dozen key players on the two-deep heading into the bye week due to injuries.
Key injury updates for Texas football ahead of the Houston game
Texas got the extra week during the bye to rest up and get healthy before returning to action on the gridiron on Oct. 21 on the road against the Houston Cougars. The Longhorns are looking to get back on track to round out the October slate in two winnable games against Houston this weekend and the BYU Cougars at home on Oct. 28.
Here are four key injury updates for Longhorns players heading into the Oct. 21 matchup against Houston.
Jake Majors, C
Among the most significant injuries the Longhorns suffered in the loss to Oklahoma on Oct. 7 was to starting senior center Jake Majors. After taking just four offensive snaps in Red River, Majors suffered a lower-body injury after an Oklahoma defender landed on his leg weirdly.
Majors didn’t return to the contest against Oklahoma after suffering that lower-body injury early in the game. In Majors’ absence, redshirt freshman Connor Robertson took the starting reps at center.
More injury updates from Sark today: “We limited Jake to all about nothing, we limited JT to all about nothing, we limited Ryan to all about nothing, we really wanted to try to get them healthy.”
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) October 17, 2023
In his Monday press conference on Oct. 16, Sark said Majors was “limited” in practice during Texas’ bye week. He said Majors practiced on Oct. 16. That is earlier than originally anticipated when it was reported Majors would miss a few weeks due to the injury he suffered against the Sooners.
be fair to them to give them that chance to really practice on Tuesday and Wednesday in our physical practices to make sure they’re in position to perform and to do it at a high level.”
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) October 17, 2023
It’s still unclear if Majors will be ready to go for the Longhorns against Houston this weekend. The original prognosis pegged Majors to return against BYU on Oct. 28 at the earliest. If Majors isn’t ready to go against Houston on Oct. 21, it should be sophomore interior offensive lineman Cole Hutson who gets the starting reps at center.
And Robertson was only in the game because C Jake Majors was injured, as was Cole Hutson, who would otherwise be in the game. First high-leverage snaps against OU for Robertson and that was a crucial mistake.
— Wescott Eberts (@SBN_Wescott) October 9, 2023
Hutson is Texas’ backup center, but he was also dealing with an injury a couple of weeks ago during the Oklahoma game. That’s why Robertson took the reps at center in Red River when Majors left the game due to injury.
Granted, Hutson is still dealing with an injury of his own, which Sark said limited him the most of any of the Longhorns with ailments this week.