The 2025 Texas football running back room was the worst of Steve Sarkisian\u2019s tenure \u2014 a head coach whose playbook is built around the run game.<\/p>\n
It ranked No. 11 among Southeastern Conference competitors, with no running back totaling more than 600 yards throughout the season\u2019s duration. During conference play specifically, the Longhorns ranked 10th in the SEC in rushing yards per game.<\/p>\n
In response to the subpar performance, Sarkisian did what many adequately funded modern-era coaches are expected to do when their team has a weak spot: explore alternative options to strengthen it before it becomes a pattern.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s trying to put a room together that suits who we want to be and who we\u2019ve been in years past, and then who we want to be moving forward,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cThen you\u2019ve got to make it try to come to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former running backs Quintrevion Wisner, CJ Baxter, Jerrick Gibson and Christian Clark packed their bags and headed for the transfer portal, clearing space for a group composed almost entirely of new incoming freshmen and high profile transfers.<\/p>\n
Sarkisian\u2019s running back quest has been headlined by his acquisition of Arizona State junior Raleek Brown and NC State sophomore Hollywood Smothers.<\/p>\n
Each of the two experienced ball carriers were ranked within 247Sports\u2019 top running backs in the transfer portal, and one of their new teammates has already noticed their talents during spring practices.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Brown is) very small, very shifty,\u201d junior running back Ryan Niblett said. \u201cHe can get in and out of the hole really fast. \u2026 And Hollywood \u2014 he\u2019s very smart. He\u2019s not slow(ing) the game down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another running back who could see significant playing time in 2026 is incoming freshman Derrek Cooper. Ranked by 247Sports as the No. 10 running back in the country and No. 17 overall prospect in Florida, Cooper chose the Longhorns from a list of over 30 offers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s come in further along than maybe most high school running backs,\u201d Sarkisian said of Cooper. \u201cI don\u2019t ever (feel) like our practice field has been too big for him. He takes the ball. He runs when he has opportunities to make plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarkisian also pointed out that he has a few returners who people might overlook growing into more prominent roles as the spring progresses.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as we talk about those first three guys \u2014 Hollywood and Raleek and Derrek \u2014 who we\u2019ve been talking a lot about, that doesn\u2019t diminish Ryan Niblett, Michael Terry (III), James Simon,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cThose guys are growing in their role too.\u201d<\/p>\n
With five months standing between now and Texas\u2019s Week one matchup against the Texas State Bobcats, Sarkisian and new running backs coach Jabbar Juluke have plenty of time to further analyze the Longhorns\u2019 rushing situation.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear what the room will look like depth chart-wise, but fans will have to familiarize themselves with several new names of players who could receive handoffs from quarterback Arch Manning this upcoming season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 Texas football running back room was the worst of Steve Sarkisian\u2019s tenure \u2014 a head coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-238292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238292","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=238292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}