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Two Texas Longhorns starters suffered season-ending injuries during Saturday’s disastrous loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in Austin — sophomore running back Bijan Robinson suffered a dislocated elbow and senior cornerback Josh Thompson suffered a fractured fibula, head coach Steve Sarkisian announced on Monday.
Robinson rushed 14 times for 70 yards against Kansas before he appeared to injure his elbow as he stiff armed a defender. So his sensational sophomore season is now over after rushing for 1,127 yards and 11 touchdowns on 195 carries (5.8 yards per carry) while adding 26 catches for 295 yards and four touchdowns.
Texas is struggling to keep its running backs healthy right now, as junior backup Roschon Johnson battled through his turf toe injury to carry the ball six times for 37 yards against Kansas and freshman Jonathon Brook is week to week after suffering a shoulder injury on Saturday. Brooks had five carries for 33 yards before leaving the game.
After missing the Kansas game due to COVID protocols, junior running back Keilan Robinson is expected to return to the team on Tuesday after clearing those protocols.
“We need to get a little bit of depth back at that spot with some of the injuries,” Sarkisian said after noting that Robinson’s return is “clearly much needed.”
Thompson finishes his senior season with 34 tackles, two passes broken up, one tackle for loss, one interception, and one quarterback hurry. He’ll have a decision to make this offseason about pursuing professional football opportunities or returning for a sixth season made available to players due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There was one piece of positive injury news for the Longhorns — junior wide receiver Jordan Whittington could make his return from the broken clavicle he suffered against Oklahoma as soon as this weekend. He’s been out since sustaining the injury more than five weeks ago.
“We’ll monitor that and that’d be great to have Jordan back,” said Sarkisian. One, he’s an exceptional football player. Two, he’s a great leader on our football team and he’s been one since the day I arrived. This guy has been tremendous for us. So if we get him back that would be great.”