Texas football injury report: Steve Sarkisian says Longhorns…

Other than losing two scholarship running backs during fall camp, No. 4 Texas isn’t hurting on the injury front for the 2024 season opener against Colorado State at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday (2:30 p.m., ESPN). The Longhorns did lose (and continue to feel the impact of losing) sophomore CJ Baxter (knee) and true freshman Christian Clark (Achilles) to season-ending injuries suffered in preseason practice.

While veteran center Jake Majors has been dealing with an ankle injury, coach Steve Sarkisian said on Wednesday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference that he didn’t anticipate declaring anyone else unavailable.

“We’re good to go,” Sarkisian said.

Majors, who has started 41 of the 42 games he’s played in his Texas career, was seen in a walking boot during the second half of camp. The 6-foot-3-inch, 315-pound fifth-year senior was held out of the team’s second camp scrimmage as a precaution, but he’s expected to be on the field when the Longhorns battle the Rams.

Majors is one of four returning starters along the offensive line for Texas. It’s a group charged with protecting a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback in Quinn Ewers and creating running room for a new-look backfield led by Jaydon Blue. With Jonathon Brooks off to the NFL and Baxter on the shelf, the top two leading rushers from last season won’t be on the field for the Longhorns on Saturday.

Nevertheless, Sarkisian is confident in Blue, sophomore Tre Wisner and true freshman Jerrick Gibson (the three running backs listed on the program’s official depth chart) playing with the kind of physical edge he wants on offense.

“We’re going to run it between the tackles,” Sarkisian said during his Monday press conference. “They learn how to run the day they show up here. Three years ago, I couldn’t have said that about Jaydon Blue, but he’s been an understudy to Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson, Jonathon Brooks and he’s more than capable.”

The focus for Texas heading into the Colorado State game has revolved around defending one of the nation’s top passing offenses from 2023. Quarterback Brayden Nicolosi-Fowler is the triggerman for an Air Raid offense under the direction of Matt Mumme, whose father, Hal Mumme, created the offense alongside the late Mike Leach, and his top target is Tory Horton, a 6-foot-3-inch, 195-pound playmaker expected to be an early-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

That said, the Longhorns won 12 games, captured a conference title and reached the College Football Playoff by winning the line-of-scrimmage battle. Considering how Texas wants to run the ball, and with the offense working against a defense with multiple pieces back from the nation’s third-best unit against the run last season (82.4 yards per game allowed), Sarkisian isn’t concerned about the ground game getting untracked.

“When we go to team run [periods in practice], we’re a physical football team,” Sarkisian said. “We believe in running the ball, we believe in stopping the run and, inevitably, you learn how to run our style. We accentuate that with the perimeter plays and different things with the running back, so they’re going to run between the tackles and they’ll do great.”