Texas at Missouri: Five Longhorn Starters Stay Questionable and Four Are Out as Friday's Availability Report Approaches
Thursday's SEC availability report changed nothing for No. 7 Texas: Colin Simmons, Ryan Wingo, Cam Coleman, Kade Phillips and Graceson Littleton are all still questionable, and four Longhorns are out. No. 18 Missouri, by contrast, lists just three players, all out. Kickoff is 11 a.m. Saturday at Faurot Field.
Texas will take the week's biggest question in the SEC into game eve unresolved. The conference's second availability report for Saturday's game at Missouri, released Thursday evening, left the Longhorns' list exactly where Wednesday put it: five starters questionable, four players out, and no upgrades for a No. 7 team (6-2, 3-2 SEC) about to play a ranked road game.
The questionable five are the spine of the team. EDGE Colin Simmons is the defense's headline name; wide receivers Ryan Wingo and Cam Coleman are the top of the passing game; and defensive backs Graceson Littleton and Kade Phillips have played the fifth- and sixth-most defensive snaps on the team this season, according to the reports. Littleton, who has started every game at nickel, was hurt in the first quarter of last week's Mississippi State game after getting rolled up on during a tackle, has not been practicing, and is looking doubtful for Saturday despite the formal 'questionable' tag, 247Sports reported. The four out are running back Hollywood Smothers, left tackle Trevor Goosby, tight end Nick Townsend and EDGE Richard Wesley.
Missouri's side of the report is the opposite picture. The No. 18 Tigers (6-2, 3-2 SEC) listed just three players, all out — running back Malae Fonoti, offensive lineman Josh Atkins and tight end Gavin Hoffman — and added no new names all week, as healthy as the Tigers have been all season going into the 11 a.m. Saturday kickoff at Faurot Field in Columbia.
Two more reports will settle what Thursday's did not. The SEC releases updated availability reports daily at about 7:10 p.m. Central — Friday night's edition lands during this station's evening cycles — with a final update 90 minutes before kickoff on Saturday. Until then, Texas's game plan for Missouri has to be written two ways: with its five questionable starters, and without them.
