Texas Football: Is Sam Ehlinger Dealing With a Nagging Injury?

Is Sam Ehlinger fighting through an injury right now? Should Texas fans be concerned?

Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger may still be nursing a nagging rib injury from the 2019 football season. 

Multiple reports have surfaced that the will-be senior Texas quarterback isn't at 100 percent in a story that originated from 247Sports. 

Eyes of Texas: Sam Ehlinger working through injury leading up to spring practice. https://t.co/HRXrMbJyl9 pic.twitter.com/AiBc6481dJ

— Horns247 (@Horns247) March 5, 2020

The injury is not a new development. Rumors have been swirling that Ehlinger was playing through a sprain in his rib cartilage as far back as September of last year. 

An injury to rib cartilage can take some time to heal and the fact that Ehlinger clearly didn't change his head-first style because of the reported problem could have delayed that healing even further. 

The Texas quarterback is coming off his best season as a Longhorn. He completed 65 percent off his passes for 3,663 yards and 32 touchdowns. He also rushed for 663 yards. All of those numbers are career highs. 

Nobody expects this to be a problem going into the 2020 season, but if this truly is still a problem now is the time for everyone involved to allow Ehlinger's body to naturally heal itself by dialing back his physicality for a while as the Longhorns are reportedly doing. 

If Ehlinger's spring football practice schedule is affected, it certainly wouldn't hurt the program to let Hudson Card and Casey Thompson get a few more reps as Texas begins preparations for life without Ehlinger in 2021 and beyond. 

Yes, Ehlinger has a new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, but much of what he will need to learn is on the mental side for now. Getting the team's QB1 back to 100 percent should be the highest priority for the Longhorn staff.