Steve Sarkisian reveals Maalik Murphy injured his shoulder on sideline vs. Texas Tech
During Texas‘ victory over Texas Tech on Friday, some noticed backup quarterback Maalik Murphy was missing from the sidelines.
Steve Sarkisian shed some light on where Murphy was during much of the game. Evidently, he suffered an injury watching the game specifically during a big return from Keilan Robinson on special teams.
“It’s unfortunate, on Keilan’s kick return, Maalik got caught watching the game and got hit on the sidelines,” Sarkisian revealed. “So we had to take him in, and we’ve got to see just kind of how injured.
“He kind of hurt his non-throwing shoulder, so hopefully we can get him back and get him healthy. Just an unfortunate situation that way.”
Hopefully Murphy isn’t too injured from the surprising turn of events. To be injured on a play when you’re simply watching from the sidelines is more than unfortunate.
Regardless, Steve Sarkisian and Texas are in good spirits, as they prepare for the Big 12 title game next weekend.
Steve Sarkisian reflects on journey at Texas, reaching Big 12 Championship
In 2021, Steve Sarkisian took over a Texas program that was coming off four straight seven-plus win seasons under Tom Herman. It didn’t go as planned, though, with a 5-7 record to miss out on a bowl game for the second time in five years.
But some of the players he inherited from Herman’s regime stuck around in Austin. They’re now seniors, and Friday night’s matchup against Texas Tech — which could’ve clinched a Big 12 Championship appearance with a victory — was their final home game.
They went out in style as the Longhorns dominated in all three phases en route to the 57-7 victory. It capped Sarkisian’s three-year journey from a 5-7 program to an 11-1 program, with at least two more games to go.
And for that group of players who stuck around after Herman’s firing, Sarkisian made sure to give them credit for helping build the foundation.
“They’re the reason we’re here,” Sarkisian told ABC’s Tom Luginbill after Friday’s game. “I think about a guy like Jett Bush. For him to get that play, he showed up here as a walk-on for a different coach, stuck with me and what we were doing. There’s a bunch of those types of guys. In the end, I just couldn’t be more proud and happy for that group of guys because without them, we would not be here.”
Bush had one of the biggest plays of the night, catching a ball that ricocheted off Tahj Brooks’ foot and took it to the house for a pick-six to make it a 50-7 Texas lead. It was part of a complete performance, which also saw Xavier Worthy — a member of that 2021 recruiting class — record a touchdown after shaking off an injury.
On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.