Texas formally announces new running backs coach

What is sure to be a loaded Texas running back room in 2022 just got a new leader.

On Saturday, the Longhorns announced they have pulled running backs coach Tashard Choice away from USC less than a week after he headed out West from Georgia Tech. Clearly, he is highly coveted.

Exciting news as @CoachSark has hired Tashard Choice — a highly respected coach and former standout running back himself — to coach our running backs!

Welcome to the Longhorn Family, @CoachChoice! 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/gc11tzDcnW

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) December 19, 2021

On Saturday afternoon, On3’s Matt Zenitz and Gerry Hamilton reported the move was likely coming, and the Longhorns confirmed it on Twitter a few hours later.

The 37-year-old Georgia native knows Texas well, as he was at North Texas as a graduate assistant in 2017 and became the running backs coach in 2018. The Mean Green averaged 153.8 yards per game on the ground in his second season and scored 25 touchdowns.

Choice is a former Dallas Cowboys and Georgia Tech running back. He started his college career at Oklahoma in 2004 before heading to Atlanta from 2005-2007. Choice had back-to-back seasons with over 1,300 rushing yards in his final two years at Georgia Tech, averaging at least five yards per carry in each season. He scored 28 total rushing touchdowns in college.

The Georgia native was taken by the Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft and also spent time with the Washington Football Team, Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts. Choice finished his professional career in 2013 after playing in 88 games and starting four. He posted 1,579 yards and 10 touchdowns in that period.

Choice will look to build on productive 2021

While Texas did not have the record they wanted in head coach Steve Sarkisian’s first season, they had one of the Big 12’s best run games this year.

Led by sophomore running back Bijan Robinson, the Longhorns averaged 199.3 rushing yards per game, which is second in the Big 12 at the conclusion of the regular season.

Despite missing the last two games of Texas’ season with a dislocated elbow, Robinson was fifth in the conference with 1,127 yards on the ground and 11 touchdowns. He averaged nearly six yards per carry at 5.8.

His teammate, Roschon Johnson, averaged 5.9 yards per carry and finished with 569 yards and five touchdowns of his own. Alabama transfer Keilan Robinson posted 7.2 yards per carry. In other words, there was no shortage of talent in the running back room, and Choice will be able to hit the ground running when he arrives in Austin.