D'shawn Jamison is 'getting better,' Steve Sarkisian says

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian gave an injury update today on defensive back D’shawn Jamison, who missed the Longhorn’s last game against TCU after suffering from a concussion the previous week in their win over Kansas State.

“D’shawn’s getting better naturally with time, any time you have a concussion you gradually start to get better so that’s a positive,” Sarkisian said.

Jamison’s return would be a huge plus as Texas nears the final stretch of their season, as he currently leads the teams in pass break ups with seven and is tied for the team lead in interceptions with two this season. Freshman Terrance Brooks started in place of Jamison Saturday, and Sarkisian also spoke about his play in Jamison’s absence.

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“I think Terrance Brooks really played a good game for his first start, I think he played 72 plays on defense,” Sarkisian said. “Played our field corner, looked comfortable, looked physical, got more comfortable as the game went on.”

Brooks recorded four tackles in his first start, but was also a part of a critical error in the secondary that lead to a 31-yard touchdown pass from Max Duggan to Quentin Johnston.

It’s unfortunate we just had the miscommunication there on the touchdown pass with he and Anthony Cook, and that I think comes with a little bit of experience of playing together. You’ve got a true freshman out there, we just ended up cutting him loose, and they made the play and the quarterback found him,” Sarkisian said. “But for his first career start, looked very comfortable and I think there’s plenty of room for him to grow and things for him to learn from.”

Steve Sarkisian says Texas had ‘zero rhythm’ on offense

Texas missed out on a huge opportunity this weekend as they hosted No. 4 ranked, undefeated TCU and fell 17-10 to the Horned Frogs. The Longhorn’s loss was highlighted by their worst offensive performance of the season, which head coach Steve Sarkisian discussed following their defeat.

“Offensively, zero rhythm in the game, we could not get out of our own way which is extremely frustrating,” Sarkisian said. “Clearly did not see this coming, thought we practiced really well, thought we were prepared, though we understood the plan, but for one reason or not we kind of took turns just not executing.”

Texas was shut out in the first half and did not reach the end zone until there were less than five minutes left in the game, as their defense took matters into their own hands scoring on a 48-yard fumble return for a touchdown, but Sarkisian took on a majority of the responsibility for the poor performance of his offensive unit on Saturday.

“And the reality of it is that’s on me, because I have to make sure that I’m putting the players in position to where they feel confident enough to go make plays and clearly tonight we didn’t do it. We got behind the chains, we had a bunch of third and longs, one for 13 on third down is unacceptable,” Sarkisian said.

The Longhorns not only struggled to reach the red zone, but when they did they struggled to capitalize and put points on the board, which Sarkisian also elaborated on.

“And then we had a couple opportunities in the second half to seize momentum, first and goals, and came away two times and came away with a total of three points, that’s arguably the difference in the game late in the ball game,” Sarkisian said.