Texas OL Isaiah Hookfin recently underwent shoulder surgery

Any hope that Texas Longhorns redshirt freshman offensive lineman Isaiah Hookfin will serve as the late-season savior for a struggling unit went by the wayside on Tuesday, as head coach Tom Herman revealed that Hookfin recently underwent shoulder surgery.

Herman didn’t specify when the surgery happened, but the above picture indicates that Hookfin was not dressed out for the game against Baylor on Oct. 24, even though he was listed as the co-backup right guard on last week’s Oklahoma State depth chart.

A late-rising 2019 signee who picked Texas over Baylor following Early Signing Day, Hookfin redshirted last season before emerging as one of the team’s most improved players during preseason camp, drawing buzz as a potential starter at one of the open positions on the right side of the line.

Unfortunately for Hookfin, he suffered the shoulder surgery prior to the season and was attempting to play through it with the knowledge that he would need offseason surgery. The Sugar Land Dulles product made his first career appearance against UTEP in the season opener, but attempts to rehabilitate the shoulder proved unsuccessful.

So Hookfin and the medical staff made the decision that since the shoulder wasn’t functional enough for the 6’5, 314-pounder to practice or play, he should undergo surgery immediately.

“We all decided, him included, that it would be in his best interest to fix it now and have him 100 percent for spring ball next offseason,” Herman said.