Before the Ohio State-Texas showdown kicked off on Saturday night, sophomore tight end Nick Townsend was seen heading to the locker room with an unknown injury.
Townsend never checked into the game for the Longhorns, enjoying the historic comeback victory over the then-No. 1 Buckeyes from the sidelines.
On Monday, during his weekly game preview press conference, head coach Steve Sarkisian did not have all that much to add about Townsend's status, leaving people with almost as many questions as they had walking into the presser.
Texas TE Nick Townsend out for foreseeable future
"Nick Townsend’s got a knee injury," Sarkisian said on Townsend's injury status. "We’re gonna continue to evaluate him to see when we can get him back. How long that will be, I don’t know."
While the rumor mill on the 40 Acres was churning out reports that Townsend had suffered a bone bruise in warmups, Sarkisian made no mention of it and did not even specify whether or not the tight end would undergo an MRI to see if there was any interior damage.
In the first game of the season, Townsend did not have earth-shattering stats, recording just one reception for nine yards. However, his presence on the field was undeniably felt, providing critical blocks for both the pass and run game against Texas State in Week 1.
Laurence Seymore III injury not as bad as initially feared
The silver lining of Sarkisian's injury update was when he shared that offensive lineman Laurence Seymore III would be available this week.
"As for Laurence Seymore, he’s fine, he’ll be ready to go," Sarkisian said on Seymore's injury status.
Seymore transferred to Texas this offseason after starting his collegiate career at Western Kentucky, and he immediately made an impact, playing most of the snaps in Week 1. This week, Sarkisian was already looking to rotate in Dylan Sikorski, but ended up relying almost entirely on him at left guard.
Sikorski played 80 snaps against Ohio State, and Sarkisian shared that he actually became somewhat hesitant to make any change to the O-Line since Sikorski and the rest of the unit were doing so well together.
"I think the communication is at a really high level up there," Sarkisian said on the offensive line working cohesively.
All of that is to say that the Texas O-Line has more depth than it has seen in a long time, and that's exactly what we saw when the team was possibly preparing to play without starting left tackle Trevor Goosby in Week 1.
So, while Townsend's status is still up in the air, it was great news to walk away from the first day of Week 3 with the news that Seymore will be ready to roll against the UTSA Roadrunners on Saturday.
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