'Glad I went to church': Texas coach Steve Sarkisian happy for Trevor Goosby injury news

When Texas football kicked off its second of two intrasquad scrimmages Saturday morning in a blazing hot Royal-Memorial Stadium, backup left tackle Andre Cojoe and backup left guard Dylan Sikorski both lined up with the starting offensive front.

But they'll soon return to their roles as valuable reserves, much to the relief of Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian. Starting left guard Laurence Seymore III will be back at practice Monday after missing a week with an undisclosed injury, and starting left tackle Trevor Goosby is "making really good progress" after suffering a bone bruise to a knee in Monday's practice.

That diagnosis of a bone bruise for Goosby instead of a season-ending ligament tear may be the best news of the summer for Sarkisian and his squad, considering what the 6-foot-7, 325-pound All-American means to quarterback Arch Manning and the Texas offense.

"I was glad I went to church," Sarkisian said. "When he got injured in practice, it was non-contact. Those are probably more scary than contact injuries because, why did that occur non-contact? Why did he kind of buckle the way that he did? We were on grass. It wasn't during the day. It wasn't too hot, he didn't not have his balance. So, yeah, I was obviously very concerned."

Texas Longhorns offensive lineman Trevor Goosby (74) celebrates with the Golden Hat after the Red River Rivalry against the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday Oct. 11, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman)

That concern stretched from Goosby himself to the entire team. A fourth-year player and a two-year starter, Goosby could have entered this past spring's NFL draft as a high pick but chose to return to Texas. He projects as a first-round pick in next year's draft, assuming he matches his quality play from last season, when he emerged as one of the elite pass protectors in the country.

"Trevor had an opportunity to leave a year ago," Sarkisian said. "He decided to stay, and he's got a bunch of aspirations of playing in the NFL, and he's got high draft grades right now.

"He's an invaluable member of our team, not only as the player at left tackle, but the leader, what he represents. You never want to lose any player, but a player of that caliber in our conference at that position - that's pretty critical. So, the fact that we got the news that we got, that was about as good as news as we could have received. It was definitely a sigh of relief."

Sarkisian didn't give a time frame for Goosby's return, but team officials hope he can play in the season opener Sept. 5 against visiting Texas State.

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The play of Cojoe and Sikorski provides a silver lining of sorts to the injuries clouding the left side of the offensive line. According to Sarkisian, the 6-6, 339-pound Cojoe has solidified his status as the third tackle behind Goosby and starting right tackle Melvin Siani. And Sikorski seems to have secured a spot in the left guard rotation with Seymore and possibly Cole Huston.

"It's always great when you have that continuity for an entirety of training camp," Sarkisian said. "But on the same token, I do think these reps are good for these guys because, knock on wood, I don't know if, when, what, how, when injuries might occur in season. The fact that these guys are getting some reps with our ones against high-level defenders, I think, is good for them, preparing them for the season

"I'm not naive. I would love to have five guys all training camp long (on the offensive line). I don't know how realistic that is. At some point we're going to want them all back, and we're going to want them all working well together. And I think part of that will start Monday when we get Laurence back, and then we'll see when we can get Trevor back."

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This article originally published at 'Glad I went to church': Texas coach Steve Sarkisian happy for Trevor Goosby injury news.