Hollywood Smothers, Graceson Littleton injuries rock Texas

The 31-3 Halloween win over Mississippi State cost more than it looked like it would. On Sunday the Longhorns found out how much.

Anwar Richardson

@AnwarRichardson

🚨 TEXAS INJURY NEWS: Here's what I've learned about five injured Longhorns: • Hollywood Smothers has severe shoulder and knee injuries. Could miss the rest of the regular season. • Graceson Littleton has a knee injury. His regular season could be over. • Kade Phillips could miss 2-4 weeks with a groin injury. • Cam Coleman has a shoulder injury. Questionable for Missouri. • Ryan Wingo has a shoulder injury. Further testing is needed after inconclusive initial results. Plus, the latest on Colin Simmons and the four WRs expected to carry the load against Missouri. Full Sunday injury report ⬇️

Smothers is the headliner, and it's a gut punch. He went down with a lower-body injury in the 2nd half against the Bulldogs, and when the replay of the hit ran on the jumbotron the whole crowd at DKR gasped. Now the word is shoulder AND knee, both severe. This also isn't new territory for him. He's been banged up all year, and he sat out the Tennessee game with a lower-leg injury.

Littleton might be the bigger problem for the defense. He left early, tried to run it off on the sideline and never came back. If his regular season is done, a secondary that just lost Kade Phillips for 2-4 weeks with a groin injury gets very thin very fast. Phillips barely played in the 2nd half Saturday, which tells you something happened before halftime.

Then there's the receiver room. Both starters, Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo, got hurt against Mississippi State. Richardson has Coleman questionable for Missouri with a shoulder injury, and Wingo's shoulder still needs more testing because the first results were inconclusive. That's how you end up with Richardson writing about 4 receivers who are expected to carry the load in Columbia, and none of them are the 2 guys you'd want.

All of that sits on top of an injury list that was already long. Texas was without All-American edge rusher Colin Simmons, fellow edge Richard Wesley and offensive tackle Trevor Goosby, and Goosby is out for the season. Right after the game Steve Sarkisian called the 5 new guys all integral parts of the team and said the severity was unknown, with a better read coming midweek. Richardson's report is the first real look at those answers, and they aren't good.

The schedule doesn't help. Next up is No. 23 Missouri on the road, and Sarkisian himself pointed out that 3 of Texas's last 4 games are away from home, including back-to-back trips to Missouri and LSU. That's the stretch where a season gets decided, and Texas could be heading into it without its starting running back, a starting defensive back and maybe both top receivers.

What to watch: Sarkisian's midweek update, whether Coleman is cleared for Columbia, and what Wingo's next round of tests shows. If Smothers and Littleton really are done until bowl season, the November run comes down to the depth chart, and Texas is about to find out how good its depth actually is.