Texas Bowl injury report: Updates on Texas WR Jaxon Shipley, DE Caleb Bluiett

Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong met with the media on Tuesday to provide updates about the status of his team heading into December 29's Texas Bowl showdown with the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Of particular interest were his comments on the injury status of two key contributors -- senior wide receiver Jaxon Shipley and sophomore defensive end Caleb Bluiett.

Shipley suffered a hamstring injury just before halftime of the game against Oklahoma State and was not able to appear in his final regular season home game on Thanksgiving against TCU, raising some concerns about his availability for the Texas Bowl.

However, Strong said that Shipley has been "running around," which would seem to indicate some recent improvement.

It's been another tough season for the valuable pass catcher, as another hamstring injury slowed him during fall camp and early in the season. Then he reportedly suffered a broken thumb against West Virginia that didn't keep him out of action and didn't even result in any dropped passes.

Both Jaxon and his older brother Jordan experienced their share of injury issues at Texas, but their toughness has never come under question.

Bluiett, who left the TCU game with a knee injury, will continue to be evaluated by the training staff moving forward.

The Texas head coach also confirmed that redshirt freshman offensive lineman Darius James will be out for the game after undergoing knee surgery. Whether the injury included torn ligaments that would endanger the 2015 season for James is still not clear.