Texas will start Sam Ehlinger at QB on Saturday against Oklahoma State

In preparation for the Oklahoma State Cowboys game on Saturday in Stillwater, Texas Longhorns sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger was a full participant in practice over the last three days, head coach Tom Herman said on Thursday.

On Saturday, Herman told Longhorn Network’s Alex Loeb that Ehlinger will start against the Cowboys, indicating that Ehlinger didn’t suffer any setbacks late in the week. Two weeks ago, he suffered a Grade 1 AC sprain in his throwing shoulder against the Bears. Ehlinger left that game and did not return.

Herman said that Ehlinger threw the ball well on Thursday, but he did experience some soreness in his throwing shoulder on Wednesday that the medical staff will continue to monitor. However, the soreness was more a result of not maintaining Ehlinger not maintaining his normal routine last week and not associated with his AC joint. Herman said

“He feels confident and we do as well, so we’ll continue to see how he does tonight and tomorrow and when he wakes up, but I feel pretty good about that,” Herman said.

Ehlinger told Herman that the injury was “a little bit painful, but not inhibiting.”

The question is whether the whole arsenal of the Texas playbook will be available if Ehlinger does indeed start, especially in regards to the quarterback running game.

“I think if you have to win the game, we’re gonna do what we do, and he’s pretty good at it,” Herman said. “I think you would always like to protect him if you can, but there’s gonna be read plays, he’s gonna scramble. If they cover all our guys, he’s not gonna just sit down on the field — he’s gonna run around a little bit.

“So that will be the true test. He hasn’t been hit in practice, so we’ll see when he gets banged around. My assumption is that he’s not gonna go an entire game without being hit. So it will be a good barometer to see a couple times after he gets knocked around how he feels.”

Freshman wide receiver Joshua Moore suffered a severe shoulder sprain in practice on Wednesday and will miss a significant amount of time.

After suffering a hyperextended knee in practice last week, sophomore cornerback Josh Thompson is now “good to go.”