Steve Sarkisian shares latest on Cole Hutson injury recovery

Texas offensive lineman Cole Hutson just can’t get out of injury’s way this season, and is doing his best to recover from his latest setback at the moment.

He missed the first game of the year against Rice and then returned to play the lion’s share of snaps in the Alabama win before bowing out with another injury during the Wyoming game, this time to his right knee.

Following the Wyoming victory, Steve Sarkisian identified the knee issue for Huston and was confident Hutson would miss a few weeks, but hoped the injury wouldn’t keep him out long-term.

“Cole has got a knee injury,” Sarkisian said at the time. “We’ll MRI in the morning. I’m hopeful it’s not long, long-term injuries. We’ll know more, like I said, in the morning. I’m hopeful it’s three weeks for each guy. We’ll see how that goes.”

Even if developments take a worse turn than anticipated, Sarkisian feels confident that Hutson will return at some point in the year.

“The good thing is it’s no season-ending injury,” he said. “The tough part is it’s significant enough for him to miss a couple of ballgames here.”

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and as Texas prepares for Kansas this weekend, Sarkisian was again asked about Cole Hutston. Here was the latest he had to offer on the guard:

“Cole is doing really well. I don’t have a time frame on that, but his recovery has gone well. And so, we’re pleased with that,” said the Texas coach, adding that he “feels great about the five guys we have right now.”

Hutson is a second-year player out of Frisco (Texas) who started all 13 games at right guard for the Longhorns during the 2022 campaign. He was held out of the season-opening contest vs. Rice after getting “nicked up” in practice that week, per Sarkisian. However, he rebounded to play more snaps than fellow sophomore DJ Campbell versus Alabama as the two both logged roughly half of the team’s offensive snaps.

Hutson then played in just seven snaps against Wyoming, per PFF, before having to leave due to that knee injury. Meanwhile, Campbell has played in 141 snaps, including 61 versus Rice, 35 versus Alabama, and 45 versus Wyoming.

Saturday afternoon, No. 3 Texas is set to matchup with No. 24 Kansas, one of four showdowns between Top 25 teams during this week’s slate. The Longhorns welcome the Jahawks to Austin after the program has been a recent thorn in UT’s side since hiring Lance Leipold as head coach. If KU could pull off another upset, it would be another immense and program-defining win for the Jayhawks.