Injury questions: Highlights from Texas coach Steve Sarkisian's Monday press conference
Steve Sarkisian's Monday press conference has come and gone. Highlights:
Injury updates — or, rather, how long will Quinn Ewers be out?
Well, we just don't know yet.
Quinn Ewers is dealing with a clavicle injury. Initial reports labeled it sprained; we felt we'd get more information today, but didn't.
Also: cornerback D'Shawn Jamison hurt his ankle against Alabama. Backup quarterback Hudson Card finished the last three quarters in place of Ewers, but he clearly was nursing an ankle injury and spent the second half limping. And reports surfaced Sunday that Bijan Robinson has a hurt shoulder.
"I know you guys are going to want me to tell you an exact timetable, and you're gonna ask me specifically. I'll tell you now: they're day to day," Sarkisian said — preemptively, before he took questions. "We're going to have to monitor them every morning to see where they're at."
Golden: How Texas was able to put a scare into future SEC rival Alabama
Sark did say that the one good thing about all those injuries is that none of the injuries are structural, at least: "It's not surgery-driven, it's not broken, it's not ligament damage. We'll see who we can get back and when we can get them back."
Those updates, by the way, obviously were foremost on our minds, but he first gave us his rundown of the Alabama game, a thank you to the fans who squeezed into Royal-Memorial Stadium and his quickie thoughts on UTSA, this week's opponent (in a nutshell: a hell of a good start for them, with a dynamic quarterback, and they're well-coached).
About those quarterbacks ...
Sarkisian's first question of the day: who took first-team quarterback snaps at this morning's practice.
"That's for me," was his answer, we presume meaning that's for Sark to know and us to find out. Was it Card? Maybe even third-stringer Charles Wright? Wright, out of Austin High, was the next quarterback up on Saturday had Card not been able to finish.
Sarkisian's second question: how did play-calling change with Card hobbled. "That's part of coaching. That's part of being a play-caller," he said. "... No one likes losing your starting quarterback in the first quarter, no one likes having your backup get injured in the second quarter and having him trying to fight through, but that's football. That's the game we play, the game we love, the game we coach. That's part of it."
More: How the Longhorns graded out in their 20-19 loss to Alabama
Ewers passed for the fourth-most yards in the first quarter against Alabama in the Nick Saban era, according to the Longhorn Network. Card finished 14 of 22 for 158 yards.
Toward the end of today's presser, Sark was asked how hard it is as a head coach to come up with a game plan not knowing who your quarterback will be. Sark said it was a lot easier than having your quarterback get injured early and then having to adjust to a new quarterback. So, there's that.
Are there such things as moral victories?
In this case, yes.
There were real-world implications from the 20-19 scare Texas put into Bama: in this week's Top 25, Georgia nudged the Tide out of the No. 1 spot and the Longhorns jumped into the poll at No. 21. Bama received only nine out of a possible 63 first-place votes. LHN is saying Texas is the first school to debut in the Top 25 the week after a loss as an unranked team since 1997.
Still ...
"As hard as we fought, as physical as we played, as tough as we were, there's still plenty to clean up," Sarkisian said. "Better never rests."
His positives from the game: Effort was great. Physicality was great. And Texas didn't commit any turnovers.
His negatives: There were wasted opportunities. And Texas didn't force any turnovers, either. "We've got to flip the script on that," he said.
Seeing red
... as in red zone. Those missed opportunities he alluded to specifically were about Texas' performance in the red zone, or inside Bama's 20-yard line. Texas got there five times and ended up with one touchdown, three field goals and a missed field goal.
"One-for-five — quite frankly, that's the difference i the game," he said.
Specifically, Sarkisian said there were three main things in play that went into those red zone failures: (1) after watching the game film, Sarkisian said he felt he could have done a better job calling plays in the red zone; (2) the Horns didn't execute the plays that he did call; (3) don't forget that Alabama's defense also just made some plays down there closer to the end zone.
The best way to turn things around in the red zone: better execution. "When it's 50/50 or (making) that tough block, you gotta make it," he said.
Texcetera
Sarkisian was asked if Saturday's Bama game was, in his opinion, a typical SEC-type of game. And he also was asked about Saban's comments that the Horns would be in the top half of the SEC right now. "First of all," Sarkisian said, "to quote my old boss: we've got to be careful of the rat poison of people telling us how good we are, which is important. A week ago, everybody was telling us how bad we were and now this week everybody wants to tell us how good we are." ... The last question of the day was whether he had thoughts on that critical safety ruling in the third quarter, when it appeared that T'Vondre Sweat had tackled Bama quarterback Bryce Young in the end zone. After a review, it was decided there was no safety (or targeting on DeMarvion Overshown, or roughing the passer on Overshown). "That was the rule," Sarkisian said. "So it wasn't about a decision. The rule was they can't review it, so it just is what it is."
Saturday's game kicks off at 7 (Longhorn Network). The No. 21 Longhorns (1-1) open the week as 10½-point favorites. The Roadrunners are coached by former UT assistant Jeff Traylor, who was here during the Charlie Strong era. UTSA (2-0) has opened with a triple-overtime 37-35 loss to No. 24 Houston and a 41-38 overtime win over Army.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: No clarity (yet) on Texas' injuries; Sarkisian calls Ewers day to day
