The most positive development to come out of the Texas football team’s Friday practice was Isaiah Bond getting back in the mix at wide receiver.

The 5-foot-11-inch, 180-pound speedster missed the Longhorns’ College Football Playoff first-round win over Clemson with an ankle injury. Bond has been hampered by ankle issues since the first half of a 34-3 win over Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry on Oct. 12.

He toughed out the team’s 30-15 loss to Georgia on Oct. 19 and was held out of a 27-24 road win over Vanderbilt on Oct. 26. While Bond was blocking on a running play late in the fourth quarter of a 22-19 overtime loss to the Bulldogs in the SEC Championship on Dec. 7, running back Quintrevion Wisner rolled up on the back of Bond’s left leg while being tackled.

Bond hobbled to the sideline, slamming his helmet in frustration with his day abruptly ending.

Nevertheless, Bond was an active participant in practice when fifth-seeded Texas (12-2) hit the grass at Denius Fields to prepare for its College Football Playoff quarterfinal against No. 4 seed Arizona State in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day (noon, ESPN). Media members were allowed inside the gate for a 15-minute viewing window, which featured Bond catching passes from quarterback Quinn Ewers during the offense’s routes-on-air period.

It remains to be seen if Bond will be on the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta when the Longhorns face the Big 12 champion Sun Devils. Regardless, everybody involved in making the offense go knows they’ll be tougher to stop with Bond on the field.

“IB is a special kind of weapon,” offensive coordinator Kyle Flood said on Saturday during a Zoom meeting with reporters. Coach Steve Sarkisian calls the plays for Texas, but Flood’s dual role as the coordinator and offensive line coach means he’s heavily involved in mapping out the running game, which Bond has contributed to with three of his four carries going for more than 20 yards.

“His elite speed, it’s just different,” Flood said. “He’s got the ability to be explosive every time he touches the ball because of how well he runs.”

Ankle problems aside, Bond heads into the game against Arizona State (11-2) tied for fifth among all Longhorns with 33 receptions. Bond’s 532 yards receiving are the third-most on the team and his five touchdown catches trail only wide receiver Matthew Golden (the offense’s leader with eight), tight end Gunnar Helm (six) and wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. (six) for the most this season by a Texas player.

While Bond would have to do a lot of damage in the CFP to match the 48 passes he caught in Alabama’s offense last season, his production has improved with the Longhorns. Bond is averaging a career-high 16.1 yards per reception and while his yards per route run (1.91) is down from 2023 (2.02) according to Pro Football Focus, he’s performing better than he was last season in yards after the catch per reception (from 4.6 to 8.0), average depth of target (from 12.8 to 13.9), contested catch rate (from 1-for-5 to 3-for-9) and missed tackles forced (from six to seven).

Bond’s 11 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or more are tied with running back Jaydon Blue for third on the team behind Golden (17) and Helm (13). That being said, Bond’s 37 total touches pale in comparison to the 162 Blue has piled up, and with 19 fewer touches than Helm (55) and 12 fewer than Golden (49), Bond’s averaging a 20-yard gain every 3.36 touches makes him the Texas player with the highest explosive play rate, slightly ahead of Ryan Wingo (3.33), who shares the team lead with Bond in yards per play from scrimmage (17.0).

Whether he’s taking the top off a defense or getting the ball from behind the line of scrimmage on an end-around, left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. is among Bond’s teammates champing at the bit for his return.

“He can catch a 2-yard pass and turn it into a touchdown,” said Banks, a unanimous All-American and winner of the Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy. “Every O-lineman wants a guy to catch a 2-yard bubble [screen] and have a touchdown. He’s that type of guy. He’s got great speed, he’s a great team player and he goes out there and puts his body on the line for the team.

“When he’s healthy, he’s definitely a guy.”

The offense isn’t complete without Bond, who could get himself back in the discussion as a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with a strong postseason before heading into events like the Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine. If Bond is healthy enough to face the Sun Devils, the Longhorns stand a better chance of clearing the last hurdle between Texas and a berth in the CFP semifinals for the second consecutive season and making a run at the national championship.

“We’re all excited when he’s out there,” Flood said. “It just causes one more different kind of stress on the defense when you have somebody out there with that kind of speed.”