Steve Sarkisian reveals Xavier Worthy played second half of last year with a hand injury

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was available to the media on Monday for the first time in months and took the opportunity to recap some of the progress made during winter conditioning, reveal a few injury notes, and sing the praises of some five-star early enrollees.

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Here are three things to know from Sarkisian’s press conference following the first spring practice.

Xavier Worthy is finally healthy after playing through a hand injury

Xavier Worthy saw his production step down during his sophomore campaign in 2022 after a stellar debut season in 2021. Of course, opposing offenses knew just what type of threat he was, yet he still found ways to get open during the course of his second year in Austin.

But it became apparent through the back half of the season that something was off with the 6-foot-1, 163-pound speedster. He struggled in multiple aspects essential to successful wide receiver play, with his three drops in the Alamo Bowl versus Washington the most glaring example of his sophomore downtick.

On Monday following the first practice of the spring for the Texas Longhorns, Sarkisian revealed publicly that Worthy played most of the second half of the 2022 season with an injured hand.

“The one guy it was great to have back out there today, which you guys didn’t know and I tried to protect this throughout the season, but Xavier had a broken hand essentially the second half of the season,” Sarkisian said. “He was in a cast for about eight weeks roughly, so to get him back out there practicing full-speed was awesome.”

This was the first word about the subject of Worthy’s injury, although there were some social media posts late in 2022 and early in 2023 that showed Worthy in a cast or brace of some sort.

Sarkisian explained some of the steps he took to protect Worthy last year in order to keep him on the field because of his belief that No. 1 was the best option for the Longhorns even with the hampered hand.

“Anytime you’re a receiver and you’re playing with a broken hand, that’s a pretty important aspect of your game,” Sarkisian said. “That guy never wanted to sit out, not play. He came to work. He fought through it. There were days in practice where we purposely didn’t throw him balls just to take some of the pressure off of it. I think we’re going to see a version of Xavier Worthy that’s dramatically different now that he’s healthy.”

Why didn’t he mention the injury? “Because I don’t have to tell you,” Sarkisian said in a blunt response to the question.

Sarkisian explained there are times when there are injuries within his program that may not keep a player out of a game but could create a target for opponents during the course of a game. That was his reasoning behind keeping Worthy’s condition confidential, even amidst his struggles during the back half of the season.

Of course, not every struggle encountered by Worthy during the 2022 season had to do with catches and drops and hands. But it stands to reason his health problem may have leaked over into other areas of his game.

Sarkisian consistently sang the praises of Worthy throughout the end of the 2022 campaign, consistently noting his work ethic, drive, and want-to amid his 59-catch, 757-yard, eight-touchdown season.

On the first day of spring practice, he’s now singing the praises of a player fully healthy for the first time in some time.

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Other injury notes

Several players were mentioned by Sarkisian as being limited for the spring. That included

• Running back Jonathon Brooks, who had offseason sports hernia surgery.

• Safety Jalen Catalon, who practiced Monday but was described as limited as a result of recovery from his 2022 injury suffered at Arkansas.

• Defensive back Jaylon Guilbeau, who is rehabbing a knee injury. “We’re pleased with where he’s at,” Sarkisian said.

• Linebacker Derion Gullette, who is recovering from an ACL tear suffered in high school

• Offensive lineman Cole Hutson, who had shoulder surgery post-Alamo Bowl.

• Quarterback Maalik Murphy. “Is still nursing a little bit with his foot, so we’re being mindful of that,” Sarkisian said. He continued: “The biggest thing for us is I just really want to get the guy healthy, because when he is healthy, he’s really talented. He’s very good. He’s a great teammate. He has natural leadership qualities about him that I want him to be able to show on a consistent basis on the field. He’ll be in the mix when he can get back.”

• Wide receiver Isaiah Neyor, who tore his ACL during preseason camp. “Love where he’s at right now with the work that he’s putting in from a rehab standpoint,” Sarkisian said.

• Offensive lineman Connor Robertson, who had surgery after the Alamo Bowl.

• Running back Keilan Robinson. “We’re just monitoring a little bit of a strain and being mindful of him,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian said that the players who are recovering from ACL injuries, notably Neyor and Gullette, would be out for the spring. He was optimistic, however, that the other players would be able to get some reps during practice after they return from spring break.

“I’m hopeful with some of these guys we can get them back in the second half of spring,” Sarkisian said.

Five-star freshmen take the field

The Longhorns’ 2023 class featured three players who finished the cycle as five-star prospects according to the On3 Industry Ranking: quarterback Arch Manning, running back Cedric “CJ” Baxter, and wide receiver Johntay Cook.

The trio of true freshmen were second on the depth chart at their respective positions, and each drew praise from Sarkisian following their first time in a Longhorn helmet.

“Arch today, day one, there’s some plays for sure that he would love back, and there are some other plays that he made,” Sarkisian said. “I think everybody was like ‘wow, that was a heck of a play.’ True freshman, should still be in high school. He brings definitely a worker’s mentality and he wants to be really good at this game.”

As it pertains to Baxter, “I think CJ has provided a real mature mindset to everything that he does. He doesn’t feel like a freshman right now. He works hard in winter conditioning. He’s got a 4.0 GPA. He went out and practiced no-nonsense today. All those things are positives are the things we thought he would be in recruiting.”

Regarding Cook and fellow freshman receiver DeAndre Moore, who himself was a second string player at the slot receiver position, “They’re serious about their craft and feel very good about where they were after day one, today.”

Texas returns to the practice field on Wednesday.