The Texas Longhorns’ running back room is going to look very different this season.
After word of starter CJ Baxter’s injury surfaced following practice on Aug. 7, panic set in. With torn lateral collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments in his knee, Texas Athletics announced that Baxter will miss out on what could’ve been a monumental sophomore year.
In 2023, Baxter became the first true freshman to start at the running back position since Ricky Williams in 1995, making six starts throughout the 12 games he appeared in. He rushed 138 times for 659 total yards and recorded five touchdowns for the Longhorns. He also proved a trustworthy target for quarterback Quinn Ewers, catching 24 passes for 156 yards.
Not long after the sting of Baxter’s absence began to fade came news of freshman running back Christian Clark enduring a torn Achilles at camp on Aug. 12. The program said that Clark would need surgery and will be absent from the entire 2024 season alongside Baxter. He entered as a three-star recruit out of Mountain Pointe in Arizona and recorded 135 carries for 801 yards and six touchdowns, including 12 passes caught for 144 receiving yards, during his senior year.
With Baxter and Clark down for the count, head coach Steve Sarkisian has kept busy developing a fresh rotation.
“We’re looking at some different options, and I think we’re looking at it creatively, whether it’s a couple of guys on the offensive side of the ball, a potential player on the defensive side of the ball, or two, for that matter,” Sarkisian said. “We’re kind of taking it day by day again. We’ve got plenty of time.”
There’s still full confidence in Jaydon Blue, who has now been put in the spotlight after being nominated to the Doak Walker Award and Paul Hornung watch lists earlier this month, to take the starting role.
Blue is set to be on the brink of an explosive season after rushing for 398 yards, three touchdowns and grabbing 14 passes for 135 yards last year. In the final three games of 2023, Blue was averaging over seven yards per carry and rushed nine times for 59 yards and one touchdown against Washington in the College Football Playoffs.
Another promising option for Sarkisian and running back coach Tashard Choice is sophomore Tre Wisner, looking to take the second slot of the primary trio. Wisner has impressed Sarkisian during the offseason, making substantial improvements throughout spring and summer workouts. Originally starting out on special teams as a freshman, Wisner also showcased his ability to carry the ball, rushing 12 times for 73 yards and one touchdown last season.
“The one thing about Tre, he is right there at the top of the hardest workers on our team,” Sarkisian said. “I mean, that guy goes for it every day, every rep, and it’s paying dividends for him.”
Completing the trifecta is freshman Jerrick Gibson, a newcomer who ranked No. 13 in running backs and No. 22 overall in the state of Florida by On3 during his recruitment. He rushed for 740 yards on 127 carries and hauled in eight touchdowns his senior year, additionally catching nine passes for 122 yards and a touchdown.
The Longhorns also added one more emergency option recently, taking on graduate transfer and former Kansas and SMU running back Velton Gardner. Gardner will add much needed depth to the position, and is now the only running back in the group with more than 1,000 career rushing yards.
If all else fails, Sarkisian’s latest development has been to move some players, such as freshman wide receiver Ryan Niblett and senior tight end Juan Davis, to the running back position. For now, Sarkisian seems to have settled on Blue, Wisner and Gibson taking the reins, with Gardner adding much-needed veteran depth behind them.
