{"id":385148,"date":"2026-07-24T14:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/385148\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T14:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:45:15","slug":"texas-football-freshman-could-play-role-early-for-2026-longhorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/385148\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas football freshman could play role early for 2026 Longhorns"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 When\u00a0Texas football<\/a> kicks off its summer practices Aug. 5, battles for a handful of starting jobs will fully begin.<\/p>\n

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But those tussles won\u2019t include the offensive backfield, which will feature new running backs Raleek Brown<\/a> and Daylon \u201cHollywood\u201d Smothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe didn’t bring Raleek and Hollywood here for one of them to be a backup,\u201d Texas coach Steve Sarkisian<\/a> said Thursday at the SEC\u2019s media days. \u201cThey\u2019re both going to play a lot of football for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

They better produce a lot, too, if Texas wants to rediscover its running game<\/a> and provide balance for an offense expected to lean on quarterback Arch Manning<\/a>. Last season, the Longhorns averaged just 137.8 yards a game on the ground compared to 250.7 yards through the air. That\u2019s the biggest discrepancy in Sarkisian\u2019s five-year tenure as well as the lowest rushing production.<\/p>\n

In Sarkisian\u2019s first season, Texas averaged 199.3 yards rushing per game. The Longhorns put up 188.0 yards a game on the ground in 2022 and 2023 before dropping to 158.8 yards in 2024, when starting running back CJ Baxter gave way to Tre Wisner after going down with a season-ending knee injury in summer camp.<\/p>\n

Last season, both Baxter and Wisner battled injuries before transferring out of the program.<\/p>\n

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But their departure in the portal opened up some spots on the roster, and Sarkisian and his staff took advantage by signing Brown from Arizona State and Smothers from North Carolina State. Smothers and Brown ranked No. 3 and No. 6, respectively, in 247 Sports\u2019 positional rankings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think they fit exactly what we’re trying to accomplish in the run game and where we’re trying to go with ourselves as an offensive football team,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cBeing more explosive, being more productive on a consistent basis in the run game, utilizing them out of the backfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: What Texas A&M football players, Mike Elko had to say about UT<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns running back Raleek Brown (0) runs the ball during practice on fan day at Darrell K Royal\u2013Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aril 18, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

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

Hollywood Smothers, Raleek Brown share traits<\/p>\n

The backs share some similarities when it comes to their frame as well as their ability to \u00a0play a big role in the passing game. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Smothers rushed for 939 yards and six touchdowns on 160 carries for the Wolfpack in 2025. He also tallied 56 catches for 452 yards and three touchdowns in two seasons at North Carolina State, which followed a redshirt freshman season at Oklahoma in 2022. The rising redshirt junior has two remaining seasons of eligibility.<\/p>\n

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The 5-9, 195-pound Brown, who\u2019s dubbed \u201cBand-Aid\u201d by his teammates, will be a fifth-year senior with one remaining season of eligibility. He enjoyed a breakout 2025 season at Arizona State while rushing for 1,141 yards and four touchdowns on 186 carries and adding another 34 catches for 239 yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last season, Baxter and Wisner combined for just 34 catches and 187 receiving yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re really good players,\u201d Texas quarterback Arch Manning said. \u201cThey’re good people, too. Love them both. We’re excited to have them. They can make some serious plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: Texas football: Cole Hutson could rejoin Longhorns’ offensive line following court ruling<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns running back Hollywood Smothers (2) celebrates after a run during practice on fan day at Darrell K Royal\u2013Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aril 18, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

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

Derrek Cooper: Freshman could play role in 2026<\/p>\n

Sarkisian also credited freshman Derrek Cooper for a strong offseason. The four-star recruit from Florida brings more size to the backfield at 6 feet, 1 inches and 212 pounds and could also factor into the backfield rotation with converted receivers Ryan Niblkett and Michael Terry as well as James Simon.<\/p>\n

\u201cDerek’s had a great start to his career,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cWinter conditioning, spring ball, summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But Sarkisian also cautioned that \u201cwe got a long way to go\u201d with the true freshman.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s never jogged out of the tunnel in front of 105,000 people, so we got a ways to go, but we’re fortunate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 When\u00a0Texas football kicks off its summer practices Aug. 5, battles for a handful of starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[261,266,135265,3231,27,29,537,536,28],"class_list":["post-385148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-football","tag-sec-football","tag-sec-football-media-days","tag-steve-sarkisian","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\/385148","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=385148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}