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Throughout the first week of preseason camp, the Texas Longhorns have mostly avoided significant injures. That is, assuming the toe sprain head coach Tom Herman said that sophomore defensive end Malcolm Roach suffered on Monday isn’t serious.
The 6’2, 263-pounder is undergoing x-rays to ensure that he didn’t suffer any broken bones.
So while it’s premature to speculate about how much time Roach could potentially miss, it’s not premature to say that if he’s out for any extended period of time, it would be a significant loss for the Longhorns.
As a freshman, the Louisiana native burst onto the scene playing the hybrid Fox end position in former head coach Charlie Strong’s defense, starting five games and finishing the season with 33 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss, and 3.0 sacks.
During the spring, he moved to the defensive end position in coordinator Todd Orlando’s defense, where he will be asked to hold the point of attack against opposing running games, but will still have some opportunities to get after the quarterback.
Fortunately for Texas, several other defensive ends have stepped up at that position, including junior Charles Omenihu and freshman Ta’Quon Graham.
Jason Hall, a senior who missed time during the spring due to a hamstring injury he suffered in the first scrimmage under Herman, suffered a head injury on Saturday and is going through the concussion protocol.
Now a back up after losing his starting job to rising junior DeShon Elliott, Hall is expected to provide valuable depth as a back up — the 6’3, 216-pounder has started 28 of the 35 games in which he’s appeared for Texas over three seasons.
In more positive news, junior running back Kirk Johnson, who has been plagued by injuries since arriving in Austin, was back on the practice field on Monday going through individual drills for the first time since experiencing a hamstring issue in the first practice a week ago.
Johnson is expected to participate in team drills on Tuesday.