Steve Sarkisian addresses Texas wide receivers filling the void following Isaiah Neyor's season-ending injury

The Texas wide receivers group suffered a big blow Monday when it was announced that Isaiah Neyor is out of the season with a torn ACL. The No. 3 receiver according to On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings, Neyor was poised for a starting role in the Longhorns offense.

Now with a little more than two weeks until the season kicks off, Texas is tasked with finding his replacement. Coach Steve Sarkisian spoke with reporters Monday, where he identified several players potentially in line to see increased opportunity.

“I think coach (Brennan) Marion does a heck of a job first of all coaching those guys,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’ve got really good leadership in that room obviously with Jordan Whittington and Xavier Worthy. We’ve had some players start to emerge and take really positive steps in a direction where we’re starting to count on ’em. Casey Cain‘s been a guy to me that’s been a really pleasant surprise this training camp. I think we’re starting to see some steps in Troy Omeire. We have high expectations for Brenen Thompson, Savion Red.

“The goal is making sure that when we go to play in that first game, we’ve got our frontline crew ready to go and that we’ve got the crew behind that frontline that’s capable to go in when needed. I think we’ll get to that spot. Like we do every training camp in our system, we put a lot on the receivers about the first eight, nine days. Now from here until the first ball game, it’s a lot of fine-tuning work that they’re getting now.”

Even before the injury to Neyor, Whittington and Worthy were primed to lead the Texas wide receivers room this season. Worthy earned Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year as well as first time all-conference honors this past season after totaling 981 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns on 62 catches. Whittington had his season cut short due to injury, but still managed record 377 yards and three touchdowns across seven games.

“At the end of the day, the two guys who are probably most comfortable playing anywhere on the field are Xavier and J-Whit,” Sarkisian said. “So that’s very comforting knowing your two most experienced guys are the most comfortable going anywhere and playing any spot. I think (Iowa State transfer) Tarique Milton is another guy. His experience has helped him learn to where he feels comfortable going anywhere.

“…Some of the younger players sometimes are a little bit more limited to what they know, but the goal is we keep trying to push and get them to learn. Clearly you can. We saw it with Xavier last year. He played just about every position for us. Do I expect them to have it all through 10 practices? No. That probably wouldn’t be very realistic. But that doesn’t mean we’re gonna stop coaching them. At the end, when we get ready to play our first ball game, the goal is to feel really comfortable with six guys that can go in that game and regardless of the situation feel good about what they can do. But we definitely need those first three to be ready to play and play at a really high level.”

Thompson and Red are two freshman Sarkisian identified as also have a chance to contribute to the passing game. But before they earn that opportunity, the Texas coach wants to see his young wide receivers prove they understand the assignment.

“I think for us and our system, the first challenge to be counted on to play is you have to know what to do,” Sarkisian said. “The second one is you need to know how to do it. I don’t really care if they know why they’re doing it that way right now, but they need to know what to do and how to do it and then they need to use their skillset and play fast. They’re both very talented young men. So that’s what we’re working through is that consistency of play of what to do and how to do it, and then do it with their skillset to be as electric as they can be.”

The Longhorns are scheduled to kick off the season Sept. 3 against Louisiana-Monroe.