WR Johntay Cook II parts ways with Texas football after being held out last two games
Texas sophomore had eight catches on 10 targets in the first six games this season
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian believes there are only two kinds of abilities — availability and dependability.
The former refers to a player’s health status. Are you available to play this week or not?
The latter is subjective. Can the coaching staff count on you to perform as expected? Can you show up to meetings on time and take care of your classwork? Can you execute the plays? If you’re an offensive player, can you block who you are supposed to block? Can you make the tackle?
Multiple reports surfaced Thursday that Texas receiver Johntay Cook II was no longer with the team, although his name still appeared on UT’s official online roster. Coach Steve Sarkisian said after practice it was a mutual decision and “We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.”
Cook played in the first six games but did not get onto the field against Georgia and Vanderbilt. The Horns have a six-receiver rotation, but knowing that Sarkisian usually leans heavily on two or three, that means someone is going to draw the short straw.
Cook was targeted just 10 times in the first six games. He’s made eight catches for 137 yards and scored two touchdowns. A bunch of other receivers have more targets, catches and overall number of plays.
Sarkisian admitted that some roster attrition is natural when there are too many good players.
“I think in this day and age of college football, some of that is natural,” Sarkisian said. “We try to really pride ourselves on being a heck of a developmental program. And I think that we have some living examples on our roster today of guys that maybe weren’t frontline starters in year one or year two and then developed into really productive players in year three or even in year four.
“So I try not to fall prey to that, that that’s just what's going to happen, but I understand it when it does happen, if that makes sense.”
Cook, a 6-foot sophomore from DeSoto, played in all 14 games last season as a freshman. He caught only eight passes for 136 yards. Cook came to Texas as a Under Armour All-American and was ranked the sixth-best receiver in the nation in the class of 2023, according to ESPN.
