Texas Longhorns Get Good News on Anthony Hill Jr. for Texas A&M Game

The Texas Longhorns were without linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Texas Longhorns linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. against the Clemson Tigers during the CFP National playoff first round at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian shared some positive injury news on linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. after the 52-37 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Sarkisian said that the team expects to have Hill Jr. back for Friday night's game at home against the Texas A&M Aggies in the regular season finale.

"We'll be able to get him back next week," Sarkisian said of Hill Jr.

Hill Jr. suffered a hand injury against the Georgia Bulldogs and was ruled out for the Arkansas game.

What Steve Sarkisian Said About Anthony Hill Jr.

Texas Longhorns linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. celebrates during the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

"It's always good to have an All-American linebacker, you know, so hopefully we get him back," Sarkisian said. "But I was proud of Trey Moore and the way that he played, obviously, with Ty'Anthony (Smith), getting the targeting penalty there in the second half, we'll be down him in the first half of next week's game. So, getting Anthony back would be big."

Sarkisian said that the absence of Hill Jr. was notable but it didn't have an impact on the defense giving up some explosive plays against the Razorbacks.

"These guys have been creating explosive plays on everybody," Sarkisian said of Arkansas. "And I know sometimes people don't want to believe me, but they scored a lot of points on a lot of people, and they got a talented group. But I thought we settled down after a couple of the explosives, and then, granted, some stuff happened there late in the game."

"But I was trying to get guys out of there, and we're on a short week, and we needed to be as healthy as we could be," Sarkisian said. "We didn't have the luxury of playing a game where everybody kind of knew the outcome before the game we had to play tonight."

Without Hill Jr., the Longhorns still had a notable performance from one of their other linebackers, as Liona Lefau had four total tackles and a 52-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Longhorns will certainly need Hill Jr. against a Texas A&M team that's 11-0 headed into Austin.

In last year's 17-7 win over Texas A&M, Hill Jr. had five total tackles (three solo).