After the No. 20 Texas Longhorns held on for a 34-31 win over the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian revealed that the thumb injury
sustained by sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo was not significant.
“In an emergency, he could have went back in today,” Sarkisian said.
Wingo opened the game with a 75-yard, catch-and-run touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, but suffered a thumb injury on another screen midway through the first quarter that picked up 14 yards. In the second half, Wingo was still dressed and had his helmet on the sideline even though he did not return to the game after the injury.
The St. Louis product has bounced back from a rough start to the season exacerbated by the inaccuracy of redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning, recording four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown in the loss to Florida and five catches for 183 yards and a touchdown in the overtime win over Mississippi State last week before flashing his explosiveness to give Texas an early edge on Saturday.
Sarkisian did not provide an injury update on junior safety Jelani McDonald, who suffered an injury in the first half and had to be held up by his shoulder pads while heading to the locker room, according to the broadcast. McDonald was not dressed in the second half.
Inside Texas reported on Saturday that the expectation is for McDonald to be available for the road game against Georgia after the bye week, when redshirt freshman safety Michael Taaffe should return from his thumb surgery.
Two other players were banged up during the game but returned — freshman wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon and redshirt freshman safety Xavier Filsaime, who has dealt with recurring shoulder issues this season.
