Jonathon Brooks refused to be tackled. When sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers and the rest of the Texas offense struggled in the first half, Brooks rolled through the Kansas defense. In the first half, he already had 124 yards on 11 runs.
Brooks exploded through the Kansas secondary and in the first half was brought down eight yards shy of the end zone, but not after a 67-yard run. The Texas offense struggled to score in the red zone, but Brooks kept rolling and setting Texas up in promising field position.
He started the second half by breaking through the Kansas defense for an explosive 54-yard touchdown.
“One thing that JB is doing, he’s playing with a lot of confidence,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He’s a very patient runner. He’s always had natural running ability. And now as he’s finding opportunities in the open field, he’s making safeties miss.”
While Brooks charged over the Kansas defense for four quarters, Ewers and the rest of his offense caught up in the second half. Ewers struggled to create offense in the red zone but showed off his running skills with two rushing touchdowns.
He opened the game with a 30-yard run down the middle after escaping pressure, scrambling before trotting down the open middle of the field for the first score of the game. In the fourth quarter, Ewers faked a handoff before taking the ball around the corner and diving past the pylon for the touchdown.
“(Quinn’s) figured out, ‘Maybe I’m a little faster than I thought,’” Sarkisian said. “I thought he used his legs really effectively tonight … It’s just another added weapon. It’s adding to the versatility of who we are offensively.”
In the second half, Ewers found his receiver Adonai Mitchell in the end zone. At the end of the first half, Ewers threw his first interception of the season, but shook it off and threw for 325 yards.
Besides these scores, all of Texas’ run success came from Brooks. He was responsible for 217 of the team’s 336 rushing yards, but at the beginning of the season, he wasn’t the starter.
“I give a lot of credit to our offensive line,” Ewers said. “Jonathon was able to find the creases in the defense and he hit them with speed.”
Due to injuries to CJ Baxter, Brooks stepped up. He shined against Wyoming and hasn’t slowed down since. His ability to find the holes in the Kansas defense that were created by the Texas offensive line gave him a huge advantage in the middle of the field.
“(Going to the middle) was a part of the game plan,” Brooks said. “I think it was just working so we just kept going back to it.”
Brooks led Texas to its first 5-0 start since 2009, and against the Jayhawks, 621 total yards, the most in a Big 12 game in program history.
Next week, Brooks and the Longhorns will travel to Dallas for the annual Red River Rivalry game against No. 14 Oklahoma.
