Texas QB Sam Ehlinger has a Grade 1 AC sprain

Even with a top-10 ranking and a placement atop the Big 12 standings for the Texas Longhorns, the biggest story coming out of Saturday’s victory over the Baylor Bears was the health of sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who left the game during the first series and did not return.

After the game, head coach Tom Herman revealed that Ehlinger suffered an AC sprain and would have an MRI to determine the extent of his ligament damage and a possible timetable to return to throwing the football.

On Sunday, news broke from Orangebloods that the prognosis for Ehlinger is positive:

Of the six degrees of sprains for the AC joint, a Grade 1 sprain is the least severe:

Grade I — The acromioclavicular ligament is partially torn but its companion ligament, the coracoclavicular, is uninjured, so the acromioclavicular joint remains tightly joined.

So the current timetable reported by Richardson fits with the timetable that Herman provided on Saturday evening.

And, in fact, within an hour of the initial report, the school confirmed that Ehlinger has a first-degree sprain, as the MRI performed on the Texas starting quarterback revealed that the initial evaluation by the medical staff on Saturday evening was correct.

“Ehlinger will continue to be treated and evaluated as he rehabs and rests his throwing shoulder during the bye week,” the school said.

An Instagram post from Ehlinger on Sunday shared the good news, though slightly more obliquely:

Whew.