Three banged up Texas players listed as day to day

Texas Longhorns sophomore running back Bijan Robinson, sophomore defensive lineman Alfred Collins, and senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown were all listed as day to day by head coach Steve Sarkisian on Monday.

All three left Saturday’s game loss in Ames to Iowa State and did not return. Beyond an apparent stinger suffered by Robinson, the exact nature of the injuries to Colins and Overshown were not disclosed by Sarkisian.

“We were kind of nicked up there Saturday night,” said Sarkisian. “None of them are significant, which is positive, I think every guy is day to day, so we’re gonna monitor them closely. I think we made some good progress with a rehab yesterday and this morning — we’ll just have to work our way and navigate ourselves through the week to see where we’re at.”

The quantity of injuries was significant enough for Sarkisian to change his practice structure, moving to more of a walkthrough-style format for Monday.

Over the last two games, Robinson has struggled to find running room — since his 38-yard touchdown in the second half against Oklahoma State, he didn’t have a run longer than nine yards against Baylor. Although Robinson did have a 14-yard run in Ames, the real struggles came with two uncharacteristic fumbles against Iowa State, the first two lost fumbles of his Texas career.

While Sarkisian didn’t believe that Robinson had poor ball security on either play, maintaining control of the football will remain a teaching point in practice this week.

“Clearly, that’s a point of emphasis of ours as a program — the ball is paramount to our success and you can’t afford the two turnovers, especially in a game like that against a team like that,” said Sarkisian. “So the emphasis is still going to be there. We’re going to have a game where we don’t turn the ball over and that’s gonna be one of the better days in the program since I’ve been here when that happens.”

Sarkisian cited Collins as one of the players who has made the biggest strides this season. He started off the season down the depth chart and didn’t play much in the season opener, but his role has steadily increased, including becoming a starter following the injury to super senior Jacoby Jones against Oklahoma. Collins has 19 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, and four quarterback hurries so far this season.

Overshown is even more integral to the team’s success — he leads the Longhorns in tackles with 65 despite missing three quarters against the Cowboys with a concussion and leaving Saturday’s game. With five tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two passes broken up, and two quarterback hurries, he’s one of the few playmakers on defense.