The Texas Longhorns were already dealing with key injuries before Saturday night’s 31-3 win over Mississippi State but those concerns continued to pile up during the game.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian made it clear that the injuries are becoming a notable issue as the month of November begins.
“Graceson Littleton didn’t finish the game, Cam Coleman didn’t finish the game, Kade Phillips didn’t finish the game, Hollywood Smothers didn’t finish the game, Ryan Wingo didn’t finish the game,” Sarkisian said. “The severity of all those guys is unknown at the moment. … That recovery has to start now for a lot of these guys.”
Here is what we know about some of the new injuries that popped up on Saturday based on what Texas Longhorns on SI observed from the press box.
Graceson Littleton, CB
Texas cornerback Graceson Littleton appeared to be dealing with an ankle/heel injury. He exited the game early and was on the sideline trying to run it off but never returned to the game. Warren Roberson took his place on the field and played outside corner, which moved Bo Masco into the slot.
Littleton was one of the first players out of the locker room during halftime and started running up and down in the end zone with a trainer to test out the injury.
When he was on the sidelines, he kept trying to push off while touching his right foot/ankle area but it’s clear he wasn’t healthy enough to go back out there.
Littleton has 27 total tackles, five passes defended and one interception this season. He’s arguably Texas’ best defensive back and will need to get healthy before the Longhorns visit Missouri,
Cam Coleman, WR
Cam Coleman started off the night on a high note with two catches for 61 yards and a touchdown on the first drive of the game.
However, he went to the locker room in the first half and returned to the sidelines wearing sweatpants and a hoodie before halftime.
It’s unclear what exactly Coleman is dealing with, but he appeared to have his left arm tucked underneath his jacket and wasn’t moving it much while walking off the field with the team at halftime. It was hard to tell if there was a sling under his sweatshirt but he was jogging off fine and didn’t have a noticeable limp, implying it might be an upper-body injury.
He dealt with an upper-body injury during the week after taking a hard fall last week against Ole Miss so perhaps this is something similar. But until Sarkisian provides a further update, it’s best not to speculate beyond what we were able to observe.
Hollywood Smothers, RB
Smothers suffered a lower-body injury in the second half. He didn’t lay on the ground for long but was sitting up while putting his hand on his left knee before being helped off with both arms around the team’s training staff.
After Smothers got hit, the crowd DKR collectively gasped while watching the replay on the jumbotron. It was hard to see it from the press box but it apparently looked bad enough to cause a reaction from the fans, though this doesn’t necessarily indicate the severity.
Smothers had four carries for -6 yards.
Texas running back Derrek Cooper had just one carry for five yards and has been dealing with a lingering injury seemingly all season long. If both he and Smothers aren’t at 100%, the Longhorns will once again lean on Raleek Brown and Michael Terry III against Missouri.
Ryan Wingo, Kade Phillips
Unlike the previous three players, it’s unclear what happened with wide receiver Ryan Wingo and cornerback Kade Phillips.
There was one point where Wingo got hit low and hard, causing him to get up a bit gingerly but it wasn’t anything obvious.
Phillips didn’t play much in the second half, implying he had been dealing with something that happened in the first two quarters.
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