Texas Longhorns Receive Good Injury News on Andrew Mukuba

Texas Longhorns safety Andrew Mukuba suffered a knee injury in the loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns safety Andrew Mukuba (4) watching the game in the fourth quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-Imagn Images / Brett Patzke-Imagn Images

AUSTIN -- The Texas Longhorns secondary was hit with another injury in the loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, but there's some positive news attached to it.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday that safety Andrew Mukuba, who suffered a knee injury against Georgia, will be questionable headed into the Vanderbilt game Saturday. He said that Mukuba avoided a season-ending injury.

“He’ll be questionable this week," Sarkisian said. "We're going to have to monitor him. We do have the bye after this game before we come back, and we play Florida after that, so we're just gonna monitor him closely this week. But, but again, I'm not gonna put him back out there if he's not ready to go, knowing that I can have a couple more weeks after this to get him healthy, a little similar to the Quinn situation. So we'll look at it, we'll see what it looks like but again, it's nothing that is season-ending or anything of that sort.”

Against Georgia, Mukuba finished with five total tackles (four solo) and had an impressive interception in the first quarter. Through his first seven games as a Longhorn, he's tallied 25 total tackles, two interceptions and two pass breakups.

Sarkisian said that Michael Taaffe and Jelani McDonald will "more than likely" be the starters at safety against Vanderbilt.

“I think we'll be fine from a rotational standpoint, but the sooner we can get Andrew back, that will be helpful for us," Sarkisian said.

The Longhorns lost safety Derek Williams Jr. to a season-ending knee injury in the win over the Oklahoma Sooners. After the loss to Georgia, he had a large brace on his right knee and was walking on crutches.

The Longhorns will kick off against Vanderbilt from Nashville on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network.