The injury news is in on Sam Ehlinger.
The Indianapolis Colts quarterback is expected to miss somewhere between four and six weeks due to his knee injury.
Ehlinger got hurt in the team’s preseason game on Friday night and was replaced by Brett Hundley. On Saturday, we learned that Ehlinger has a knee sprain. He does not need surgery, but the recovery timeframe is somewhere between 4-6 weeks.
Carson Wentz is recovering from a foot surgery and wants to play in Week 1. Now that Ehlinger is out, if Wentz cannot play, Jacob Eason will get the start for the Colts in Week 1 against the Seahawks.
The Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback situation may have become a bit more uncertain Friday after quarterback Sam Ehlinger suffered a knee injury against the Detroit Lions.
Ehlinger played in just one series in the first half of Friday’s preseason game, going 3-for-3 for 63 yards. He also added a 14-yard run. He was replaced by Brett Hundley before the end of the half, and the Colts later announced that he would not return with a knee injury. It was not clear when the injury happened.
After the game, coach Frank Reich suggested that the injury was a significant one, saying it “didn’t look good.”
Ehlinger, a sixth-round pick in April’s draft, was a candidate to start if Carson Wentz didn’t get healthy in time to play Week 1, and had impressed earlier in camp. In recent weeks, he appeared to be losing ground to Jacob Eason, who started Friday’s game.
Wentz appears to be progressing quickly, so this may end up being a moot point. However, any significant injury could certainly hamper Ehlinger’s long-term development.
The Indianapolis Colts are working through their situation at quarterback now that Carson Wentz is hurt, and a surprising name is making noise.
Jacob Eason was a fourth-round pick by the Colts in 2020 and currently their No. 1 QB with Wentz out. However, the Athletic’s Stephen Holder says that rookie Sam Ehlinger is generating buzz.
Ehlinger was a sixth-round pick by the Colts this year out of Texas. Holder says the former Longhorn “is off to a faster start than anticipated and has people within the organization buzzing.”
Holder believes that Ehlinger’s effort has placed in the starting quarterback mix.
Ehlinger was a dual-threat quarterback at Texas and rushed for 33 touchdowns during his college career. He is mobile but also had good passing stats, with 94 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. Eason is a big body and has a big arm, but he also was inconsistent and faced questions during his interviews.
Wentz is expected to miss 5-12 weeks due to foot surgery. That is a large gap in terms of a timeline, and the Colts are hoping the former Eagles QB will make it back sooner than later. In the meantime, Ehlinger is trying to take advantage.
Sam Ehlinger will head to the NFL.
Ehlinger posted a video on social media Sunday announcing a decision about his future.
In the video, Ehlinger thanked Texas fans for their support. He said he felt leaving for the NFL was the right move for him.
“Thank you for your support. It has meant everything to me. Although we did not reach our ultimate goal of winning a championship, we have won many great games, and the program is indeed in a much better place,” Ehlinger says in the video.
“In the same way that I knew UT was the right choice for me, I now know it is the right time for me to go on to the NFL.”
Ehlinger was a four-year starter at Texas, and his entire career spanned Tom Herman’s time as the Longhorns’ head coach. He finished behind Colt McCoy in career passing yards and passing touchdowns.
The NCAA’s rules for this fall are different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This season does not count towards college eligibility, meaning seniors like Ehlinger have the option of playing again next season. Ehlinger could still change his mind, though with a new coach coming in, it might be the right time to leave.
The Texas Longhorns finished their season in a strong way on Tuesday, but questions surround Sam Ehlinger.
The Longhorns senior quarterback was knocked out of the Valero Alama Bowl game against Colorado with a shoulder injury. He went 10/16 for 160 yards and a touchdown before being replaced by Casey Thompson.
Though this was Ehlinger’s senior season, he has the option to return next fall due to eligibility rules changes for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas coach Tom Herman talked about Ehlinger after his team’s 55-23 win and praised the quarterback for an “indescribable” influence on the team. Herman also said he didn’t know about Ehlinger’s future.
Ehlinger is second in school history in career passing yards and passing touchdowns behind Colt McCoy. He would be poised to add to those stats if he returned next year.
The Texas Longhorns continue to be a program with decent results but championship aspirations, and that’s led to major frustrations in Austin.
Texas’ loss to Iowa State on Friday dropped them to 5-3 on the season. With two winnable games to go, a 7-3 finish remains possible, but this is a program that expects to contend for the College Football Playoff. That once again won’t be happening in 2020, and it has led to speculation about coach Tom Herman’s job status.
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger is among the most frustrated. When asked if Herman was getting the most out of the players or if coaching is the issue, Ehlinger offered up a very honest response.
“That’s the million dollar question everybody’s trying to figure out the last 10 years,” Ehlinger said, via Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman.
Therein lies the problem. Herman was brought in as the guy who would answer that kind of question. The fact that it’s still being asked doesn’t bode well for him.
Herman himself had a different response to questions about his future with the Longhorns.
A referee in Saturday’s Texas-West Virginia game got carried away with his pats on Sam Ehlinger’s rear.
The official was shown helping Ehlinger back up and then giving him several pats on the backside.
Ehlinger passed for 184 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 12 times for 39 yards as the Longhorns beat West Virginia 17-13.
Texas is now 5-2 and has won three in a row following their two-game losing streak. And Ehlinger appears to have a referee who is quite fond of him.
Texas disappointed on Saturday with a 33-31 home loss to TCU, and a key fumble hurt the team.
Running back Keaontay Ingram lost a fumble on first-and-goal at the TCU 1-yard line with under three minutes left.
Texas was down 33-29 at the time, so they had an opportunity to take the lead. Instead, they never got the ball back after the fumble and lost by two (TCU took a safety at the end of the game).
Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger threw for 236 yards and four touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough. He displayed some strong leadership afterwards by sharing a comforting message for Ingram.
“I reminded him as much as we love this, it’s just a game. It’s not life or death. Everybody made a ton of mistakes. It’s more on me than it is on him,” Ehlinger said after the game, via the Austin American-Statesman’s Kirk Bohls.
Just because Ehlinger showed that sort of compassion for Ingram doesn’t mean he wasn’t upset.
Ehlinger’s Longhorns are now 2-1 on the season.
TCU coach Gary Patterson continues his Texas dominance and is now 7-2 against the Longhorns since they joined the Big 12 in 2012.
Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger got his Heisman Trophy campaign off to a roaring start on Saturday, but the senior was not all that satisfied with the monster performance.
Ehlinger had 429 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in the Longhorns’ 59-3 win over UTEP. All of that production came in the first half. The yardage and touchdowns were a career high for him and record for a Texas quarterback in a single half. Despite that, Ehlinger said after the game that he was “disappointed” in the way he played.
If Ehlinger isn’t satisfied with needing just 30 minutes to set career highs, we can only imagine what he expects of himself this season.
Ehlinger has plenty of experience and appears poised to have a huge year. There was some talk about him potentially declaring for the NFL Draft after last year, but he can only boost his stock if he continues to play like he did on Saturday.
Texas had a disappointing 8-5 season last year, and Ehlinger ended up eating his words after making a bold proclamation the year before. He’s clearly holding himself to an incredibly high standard, which is good news for the Longhorns.
Many professional athletes have donated large sums of money to help those who have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and those at the amateur level have found a way to pitch in as well. Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger is one of the most successful examples of that.
Ehlinger launched a GoFundMe page on March 25 to help raise money for families that have been impacted by COVID-19, and the fundraiser had received more than $100,000 in donations as of Thursday morning. Ehlinger has set his goal at $1 million and says organizations like the Boys & Girls Club of America, the Central Texas Food Bank, Austin Pets Alive will be receiving money.
Ehlinger also noted that the fundraiser has been approved by the NCAA and the Texas Athletics compliance staff. There was some talk that a GoFundMe page created by Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and his girlfriend had been shut down because it violated NCAA rules, but Lawrence later clarified that the NCAA granted him permission.
We’ve seen some extremely generous donations from athletes over the past several weeks. It’s great to see athletes like Ehlinger who don’t have millions of their own dollars find a way to use their popularity to raise money.
