Steve Sarkisian provides injury update on Anthony Cook

A tough night for the Texas Longhorns turned into an even worse one for senior safety Anthony Cook after sustaining a serious left arm injury during the first half of the 41-34 loss to Oklahoma State.

Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed the extent of the injury at the postgame press conference after Cook came out of the tunnel for the second half in street clothes.

“Yeah, it definitely hurt losing Cook,” Sarkisian said after the loss. “Anytime you lose a senior in the back end who has played a lot of football — that has an effect on us. He was playing hard. He’s playing well. He ended up breaking his arm. But we’ll assess it more tomorrow of what it looks like for his future.”

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Junior cornerback Kitan Crawford stepped in at safety for the injured Cook for the remainder of the game.

Cook would finish the game with just two solo tackles, but those numbers doesn’t do justice to the type of production he provides Texas. Alongside Jerrin Thompson and Jahdae Barron, the trio have been the most important members of the Longhorns secondary this season.

The senior defensive back was on track to completely eclipse his career-high numbers in multiple categories. With 44 tackles on the year, Cook is just four tackles away from breaking that mark, though through four and a half seasons in college had never recorded an interception – that could have changed any game given the way he had been performing.

Most notably, Cook forced a critical fumble in the fourth quarter against Iowa State that essentially secured the win for the Longhorns. Texas will surely miss him and with his stellar season halted for the time being, Crawford seems to be a suitable replacement.

Still, earlier in the week Sarkisian discussed the importance of communication and cohesion between the defensive backs. Cook’s injury certainly throws a wrench in those plans, and Texas will have to work a little harder to rebuild that chemistry in the secondary that had been coming together over the past several weeks.