Steve Sarkisian quells rumor of Joshua Moore outburst at Texas practice

Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian said at Thursday’s media availability that receiver Joshua Moore will be available against Iowa State on Saturday. The junior’s status with the team was in question after reports surfaced this week regarding a verbal altercation between Moore and Sarkisian at practice.

But the coach cleared the air just a day later.

“He’s getting coached, and that’s what we do,” Sarkisian said. “I think sometimes people get this misconception that, because I’m a players’ coach, that we don’t coach hard. We have a very demanding staff. We coach hard. We believe in discipline. We believe in doing things the right way, and when things aren’t going that way, we coach our guys.

“And so whichever one of you guys felt like it was important to report that, that’s your bad. Not ours.”

Moore has been a key piece of the Texas offense this year, with 22 catches for 233 yards and three touchdowns thus far. His best game to date came against Oklahoma, when he finished with four receptions for 70 yards and two scores.

The Longhorns have now lost three straight games to the top three teams in the conference (Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State). They can get back to .500 in league play with a win against the Cyclones.

They run into an Iowa State team coming off of a loss to West Virginia. After entering the year ranked No. 7 and expected to challenge the Sooners for the conference crown, the Cyclones sit at a disappointing fourth in the Big 12. They still rank as the top defense in the Big 12, allowing just 291.9 yards and 19.6 points per game.

Longhorns quarterback Casey Thompson, who took over for Hudson Card following a loss to Arkansas in Week 2, has struggled of late. After throwing five touchdowns in the Red River Rivalry game, he has just three over the last two games to go with three interceptions.

Still, coach Steve Sarkisian emphasized this week the team is still Thompson’s.

“I do think there is some merit to when the guy becomes the guy,” Sarkisian said during his press conference on Monday. “I have never been in favor of kind of rotating quarterbacks. You let a guy play through it.”

He’ll be happy to have Moore, who has served as the team’s No. 2 target following the season-ending injury of Jordan Whittington, available. Fans in Austin can also breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the altercation between Joshua Moore and Steve Sarkisian seemed worse than it was in reality.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET in Ames, Iowa.