Nick Townsend, Nick Brooks injury updates: Steve Sarkisian reveals status of Texas players after leaving scrimmage

The 2025 season is rapidly approaching. With massive expectations as the preseason AP No. 1 team in the country, the Texas Longhorns are getting ready for the season in Fall Camp, though as head coach Steve Sarkisian noted, not every player was able to finish the scrimmage.

A couple of days removed from the scrimmage, Sarkisian shared that neither tight end Nick Townsend nor offensive lineman Nick Brooks were able to finish the scrimmage as they battled injuries. Luckily, it also appears that both were able to avoid any long-term injuries and are already back at practice.

“I think we had only two guys who didn’t finish the scrimmage,” Steve Sarkisian said. “That was Nick Brooks and Nick Townsend. Both practiced all day today and were great. So, nothing serious.”

Nick Townsend came to Texas as a four-star recruit in the Class of 2025. He was the 93rd-ranked player nationally and the fifth-ranked tight end in that recruiting cycle. Texas is thought to have a very deep tight end room. Because of that, Townsend isn’t expected to be forced into competition early in his freshman season, but he certainly does have the talent to make noise in his career.

As for Nick Brooks, he’s also a freshman who came to Texas as a four-star recruit in the Class of 2025. He’d be the 335th-ranked player overall and the 24th-ranked offensive tackle in that recruiting cycle. That offensive line, and particularly at tackle, doesn’t have as much depth as the tight end position does. At the same time, there is NFL talent there, and Brooks, while young, offers plenty of potential.

Texas has tons of talent and expectations are incredibly high. After making the semifinal of the College Football Playoff, the Longhorns enter the season as the top-ranked team in the country. There is going to be an expectation that Steve Sarkisian gets them over the hump this season and manages to win the SEC and get past that semifinal round.

Steve Sarkisian emphatically reacts to Texas being No. 1 in preseason AP Poll

The Longhorns might have the top spot in the AP rankings. However, that doesn’t matter to Steve Sarkisian at this point.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Sarkisian said. “That’s how I drown it out. I tell the guys exactly that. It doesn’t matter. It’s irrelevant to the way the season is going to go, it’s irrelevant to the way we’re going to play, it’s irrelevant to how our opponents are going to play. Maybe it puts a bigger bullseye on us for our opponents but the reality is, we have to go do it. We have to perform and we have to go perform at a high level or time and time and time again. That shouldn’t change whether we were one, eight, 12, 30.”

Texas will be tested immediately. The Longhorns open on the road against defending national champion Ohio State. There, Texas has a chance to make a quick statement.