AUSTIN -- With starting quarterback Shane Buechele sidelined by an injured throwing shoulder, freshman Sam Ehlinger got his first start Saturday for Texas against San Jose State.
Texas confirmed Buechele's situation in a pregame text. Receiver Jerrod Heard, who started 10 games at quarterback in 2015 before switching positions, will be the backup.
Ehlinger, an early enrollee freshman from Austin Westlake, tweeted "Here we go," about two hours before game-time.
Buechele awoke with soreness after the opening loss to Maryland and had not practiced this week with the injury. On his weekly radio/Longhorn Network show on Thursday, coach Tom Herman referred to the injury as "thrower's shoulder" and said Buechele's injury was "eerily similar" to one suffered last year by his former Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr.