Steve Sarkisian provides injury update on Denzel Okafor

The Texas Longhorns gutted out a great win yesterday, defeating the TCU Horned Frogs. Unfortunately, they lost their starting left guard during the game — Denzel Okafor was carted off in the first quarter of the Longhorns matchup with TCU.

Early in the game, Okafor appeared to suffer a leg injury on running back Bijan Robinson’s 27-yard rushing touchdown. At the time, it put Texas ahead 10-7.

Following the victory, Steve Sarkisian provided an injury update on Okafor.

“I don’t have the specific on Denzel. I think that ideally it’s a lower-leg injury. To the extent, I’m not exactly sure right now and I don’t want to speak out of turn on that,” stated Sarkisian. “Hopefully we can get him back.”

With Okafor going down with an injury, the Longhorns were forced to adjust on the fly. In his place, Sarkisian moved starting right tackle Derek Kerstetter to left guard and moved Andrej Karic to right tackle. 

Additionally, the Longhorns head coach spoke about how they played in Okafor’s absence.

“Obviously getting Andrej — that was a lot of football that he got to play. Moving Kerstetter to guard. I thought we had moments where we played pretty good up-front,” said Sarkisian. “I thought there were moments where we were a little leaky. Again, that’s a good defensive football team. We got to look at the tape to see where some of the main issues occurred. But I didn’t feel like it was just some drastic change with Andrej coming into the game.”

While drastic changes weren’t visible after Okafor was carted off, hopefully he’s able to return from injury. Okafor is a sixth-year senior, and he has started every game for the Longhorns this season. He entered the 2021 season with 48 appearances, making 14 starts.

Texas Longhorns: Offense Humming

The Longhorns offensive line still cleared the way for Robinson. Moreover, the running back helped his Heisman Trophy campaign — rushing for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

Furthermore, quarterback Casey Thompson didn’t have the best game of his career. Still, he got the job done. He was able to lead his team to a victory, completing 12 of 22 passes for one touchdown and one interception.

Additionally, Thompson found Jordan Whittington for a 32-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The score ended up being the difference in the football game.

The Texas Longhorns offense is humming. Whether Denzel Okafor is able to play again in 2021 or not, they’ll be looking to keep their momentum.