Just under an hour before the kickoff of the Texas Longhorns' 2025 season against the Ohio State Buckeyes, and there's already an injury report brewing for the Burnt Orange.
As was the fear for the team earlier in the week, Longhorns wide receiver Emmett Mosley V, who transferred to the Forty Acres from the Stanford Cardinal, was not seen on the field for pregame warmups and is expected to be out for today's season opener against the defending national champions due to an ongoing hamstring injury, according to ESPN College Football insider Pete Thamel.
Mosley was previously expected to be active in a limited role in Arch Manning's first game as a full-time starter, but it seems that the nagging injury has taken a negative turn and now is affecting his play time.
During his freshman year at Stanford last season, Mosley V had 48 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns. He had a career performance in an upset win over No. 19 Louisville when he finished with 13 catches for 168 yards and three touchdowns.
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said during Monday's press conference in Austin that Mosley's growth could follow a similar trajectory to that of Matthew Golden, who burst on to the scene late last season before becoming a first-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers.
“For him, the growth is going to be as the season continues to go,” Sarkisian said. “I always think back to last year, where, going into the season, I don’t think I even fielded a question about (Matthew Golden) before the first couple of games. By the end of the year, he was the topic of discussion. His evolution as the season goes on is going to be really important as he gets more and more comfortable with us.”
With Mosley now supposedly out of the season-opening contest, the hole in the offense could open the door for some of Texas' freshmen wide receivers, including Michael Terry III, Daylan McCutcheon, Kaliq Lockett and Jaime Ffrench. Second-year wideout Parker Livingstone is also expected to see notable action.
"They just have to earn our trust," Sarkisian said of the freshmen receivers. "At the end of the day, it's not about ability, it's what you are able to do."
The Longhorns and Buckeyes kick off in a rematch of the 2024 College Football Playoff shortly at 11:00 AM CT from Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
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