Sam Ehlinger has positive outlook on knees, Longhorns season

Sam Ehlinger’s knees are two of the most closely watched joints in high school football these days.

After word had spread that the Texas commit and Rivals100 quarterback had surgery following a game in which he injured both meniscus, he was seen patrolling the sidelines in Austin-Westlake’s 35-0 win over Pflugerville on Friday with bandages over his left knee.

Sure, he was moving with a little bit of a limp, but he was in the offensive huddle with every break in play. He worked his way down the sideline and rested his hands on those knees like a coach to analyze each play. Any chance he had to get onto the field, he took.

“You know the fire in competition comes out in me when I’m on the field,” he said. “I just want to be there for my brothers and my teammates to put them in the best situation possible.”

As for an injury report - true to form, Ehlinger isn’t going to volunteer too much information. Regardless of his status going forward for the rest of his high school season, there was optimism in his voice when discussing his treatment and recovery.

“I’ll be going back to the doctor in about a week-and-a-half and see what he has to say about it,” he said. “It’s feeling really good and my physical therapy is going really well.”

Of course, those knees haven’t kept him from making his way onto campus early and often this season. Between last week’s thrilling win against Notre Dame and this week’s encore against UTEP, he’s pretty upbeat about the direction of his future team this season as well.

On Texas’ Week 1 win against Notre Dame

“They’ve been great,” he said. “That’s what has been their potential for a long time. It was great to see them go out and put it together, it’s a turning point for the program and the way they came out to compete and beat one of the best teams in the nation was really good to see.”

On the success of two quarterbacks running the offense

“It was great seeing that work so well,” he said. “Whatever is going to be best for the team is what they need to do and obviously it worked so that makes me happy. Shane (Buechele) had a great game and so did Tyrone (Swoopes). Coach (Sterlin) Gilbert is doing a great job putting athletes where they need to be to do what they need to do and that’s exactly what happened.”

So long as Texas continues on with its successful season and there is no doubt that the offense and staff will stay in tact moving forward, Ehlinger’s leg strength is going to be an important aspect of his potential with the team. Swoopes is gone after this year and the Longhorns almost certainly have Buechele penciled in as the lone quarterback next season. When Ehlinger hits the field, he is going to be asked to do it all and he’ll want to make sure that there is no question that those legs can handle the grind of a full college season.