{"id":105509,"date":"2025-12-30T23:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T23:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/105509\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T23:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T23:24:08","slug":"texas-turns-to-backup-rbs-with-quintrevion-wisner-cj-baxter-departing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/105509\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas turns to backup RBs with Quintrevion Wisner, CJ Baxter departing"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 While not particularly effective this season, the\u00a0Texas football<\/a> running game has seemingly followed a simple script: Option 1A? Hand the ball to Quintrevion Wisner. Option 1B? Give it to CJ Baxter Jr.<\/p>\n

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Over UT’s 12 games, Wisner and Baxter combined for 185 carries. That accounted for nearly 47% of the team’s overall rushing attempts, and 63.6% of the times that a running back rushed the ball. But neither Baxter nor Wisner will be available for Texas (9-3) when it plays Michigan (9-3) in Wednesday’s Citrus Bowl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Baxter, whose old high school in Orlando sits five miles away from the Camping World Stadium where the Citrus Bowl will be played, set his sights on the transfer portal earlier this month. Wisner then announced his intention to transfer on Dec. 26.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns running back Christian Clark (6) runs the ball during the game against Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 in Gainesville, Florida.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Without Wisner and his 597 yards, Texas enters the Citrus Bowl with quarterback Arch Manning as its leading rusher with 244 yards. Without Wisner, Baxter and Jerrick Gibson, who left the team in October, Texas doesn’t boast a running back with more than 35 carries this season.<\/p>\n

NO. 13 TEXAS VS. NO. 18 MICHIGAN<\/p>\n

When\/where:\u00a02 p.m. Wednesday in Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n

TV\/radio:\u00a0ABC; 1300 AM, 98.1 FM, 105.3 FM (Spanish)<\/p>\n

GOLDEN:Does Texas football even want to be at the Citrus Bowl?<\/a><\/p>\n

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During Tuesday’s joint press conference with Michigan interim coach Biff Poggi, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian hinted that rushing opportunities now exist for four players:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The versatile Ryan Niblett, who found a calling on special teams this season after spending his first few years as a receiver, running back and defensive back;<\/p>\n

\u2022 James Simon, a freshman who has rushed 29 times for 122 yards;<\/p>\n

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\u2022 Christian Clark, who’s averaging 3.7 yards per carry after missing last season with an Achilles injury.<\/p>\n

\u2022 And Michael Terry III, who’s been working as a receiver for much of this season.<\/p>\n

“My goal is all those guys are going to have an opportunity\u00a0to contribute in the game,” Sarkisian said. “I think we are more than capable back there to go do that.”<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Marcos, TX; Liberty Hill Panthers running back Andon Thomas (10) stops Alamo Heights Mules wide receiver Michael Terry III (10) on the carry during the forth quarter the Class 5A Division 2 Region IV championship football playoff on Friday, Dec 3, 2021, at Bobcat Stadium.<\/p>\n

John Gutierrez for American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most intriguing option for Texas is Terry, a 6-foot-3, 216-pound freshman who’s played mostly receiver so far but does have a history at running back. He\u00a0rushed 86 times for 684 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior at Alamo Heights in 2024, and his junior year with the Mules featured 20 rushing scores.<\/p>\n

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“I think he has found a spot at running back and looks really good out there,” Texas receiver Parker Livingstone said this week. “He has been running the ball hard in practice and he looks physical.”<\/p>\n

Losing its top backs before a bowl game? Texas has been there, done that.<\/p>\n

Due to injuries, Texas essentially played two games this season without Baxter and Wisner and averaged 245 rushing yards in those two wins. But Michigan, which boasts the No. 14 run defense in college football, is not UTEP or Sam Houston. Texas also had the services of Gibson against the Miners and Bearkats, and the now-departed sophomore recorded double-digit touches in both of those wins.<\/p>\n

For Texas, a better example of life without its RB1 and RB2 may require a recall of the 2022 season. Ahead of the Alamo Bowl matchup against Washington, both Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson decided to start preparing for the draft instead of the Huskies.<\/p>\n

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(The opt-outs proved to be a wise decision for them. Robinson was selected eighth overall by Atlanta in the 2023 draft, and the two-time Pro Bowl pick now owns the longest-ever NFL offensive gain by a Longhorn after Monday night’s 93-yard touchdown run against the Los Angeles Rams. And Johnson was a fourth-round pick for Chicago.)<\/p>\n

MORE:Texas QB Arch Manning says ‘there’s no reason to leave’ before 2026 football season<\/a><\/p>\n

Without Robinson and Johnson, however, Texas struggled in the bowl game. After averaging 199.6 rushing yards in the regular season, Texas was held to 51 yards on 18 carries\u00a0in a 27-20 loss to Washington<\/a>. Keilan Robinson had a team-high 27 yards, which remains the lowest total for a leading rusher during Sarkisian’s 67 games at Texas.<\/p>\n

“I think the biggest thing we learned in that game is get\u00a0more first downs than we did in the Alamo Bowl, so we can\u00a0get more carries and be on the field more,” Sarkisian said. “(Washington quarterback) Michael Penix had a good game, and when he was on the field, it was\u00a0hard. We learned that two years in a row. We have to get\u00a0more first downs to get more carries to run more plays.”<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian walks the field during the Lone Star Showdown against Texas A&M at Darrell K Royal\u2013Texas Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Derrek Cooper is coming, but Texas may need more reinforcements<\/p>\n

Even with Baxter and Wisner in the fold, Texas has struggled to run\u00a0behind a beleaguered\u00a0offensive line this season<\/a>. The 129.7 rushing yards that UT is averaging ranks 100th nationally. In a 27-17 win over Texas A&M that closed out the regular season, Wisner recorded Texas’ first 100-yard rushing performance.<\/p>\n

In addition to Baxter, Gibson and Wisner, UT also will lose freshman Rickey Stewart Jr. to the portal. Sarkisian, though, reminded reporters Tuesday that “we have a pretty good running back coming in by the name of (four-star recruit)\u00a0Derrek Cooper<\/a> that we are\u00a0excited about.”<\/p>\n

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MORE: Will departures set safety Jonah Williams up for more playing time?<\/a><\/p>\n

Will Texas and new running backs coach Jabbar Juluke<\/a> still bring in a transfer for additional help in the backfield? While answering a question about recruiting running backs and receivers, Sarkisian warned that process isn’t as easy as it seems. In addition to competing teams, Texas now also must deal with the agents for these prospects.<\/p>\n

“There are some agents that are rational, and\u00a0there are some that this is their first time ever being an\u00a0agent,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t even know if they are licensed to be agents, but all of a sudden they get to be agents, because we have no certification process in college football, where in the NFL you have to be certified. College football, it might be their college roommate their freshmen year, who is their agent right now, and this guy is throwing numbers at you. It is like, we can’t even deal with this. You just move on.”<\/p>\n

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Continued Sarkisian: “Again, we have to have our list of needs, our list of wants\u00a0and our list of luxuries, and then what’s the dollar sign next\u00a0to all of that and then what is the bottom dollar from an\u00a0organizational standpoint.\u00a0The idea that I can sit up here in 2025 and talk about\u00a0money and players and things, right; pretty crazy. From\u00a0where we have gotten to, from where we were four or five\u00a0years ago to where we are today. That is the reality of the\u00a0situation of college football right now, and that’s where we\u00a0are.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 While not particularly effective this season, the\u00a0Texas football running game has seemingly followed a simple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[38916,261,18220,795,6183,27,29,537,536,28],"class_list":["post-105509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-citrus-bowl","tag-college-football","tag-football-recruiting","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-nfl-draft","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}