Who Texas still has available at running back for Mississippi State
Five of the ten running backs on the Texas Longhorns’ 2024 roster appeared on Thursday’s SEC Student-Athlete Availability Report, with four of them in CJ Baxter, Christian Clark, Velton Gardner, and Colin Page listed as OUT for No. 1 Texas’ SEC opener against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
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Baxter and Clark will be listed as OUT on every availability report released this year considering both suffered season-ending injuries during training camp. Gardner was listed as OUT on Wednesday’s initial report. Page was listed as DOUBTFUL and is now down to OUT.
Quintrevion Wisner, who was QUESTIONABLE on Wednesday, was listed as PROBABLE on Thursday.
Wisner, along with Jaydon Blue, Jerrick Gibson, and Ryan Niblett are the only scholarship players that can play running back who portend to be available for Saturday’s matchup against MSU.
Having four scholarship players at running back available, with one of them a true freshman, isn’t something Steve Sarkisian is quite used to. However, the situation is not one he thinks will insurmountable for members of Tashard Choice‘s position group.
“I don’t know if I’ve had the amount of injuries that we’ve had,” Sarkisian said Thursday. “I’ve been fortunate in my career. You guys know I’ve had a thousand-yard rusher everywhere we’ve gone. That’s a byproduct of a lot of things, and one of those things is health. That runner never had to endure any significant injuries that way. Every year, every team, injuries happen. You don’t know when. You know how. You don’t know what. The point of that being is you’ve got to keep trying to prepare the other guys to day. This stuff isn’t really that new.”
Blue, Texas’ first-string running back, set career bests in rushing attempts, yards, and rushing touchdowns against Louisiana-Monroe. He tallied 25 carries for 124 yards and three scores on the ground and added one three-yard touchdown reception for a four-score day. He has not appeared on any injury report this week after missing the contest against UTSA due to an ankle sprain suffered at Michigan.
Wisner, who did not play versus ULM, has 19 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown this year plus four receptions for 46 yards. His status as PROBABLE means he should see action on Saturday.
Gibson, who actually leads the Longhorns in rushing this year, has 42 rushes for 210 yards and three scores along with two catches for 17 yards.
Niblett, a redshirt freshman who arrived at Texas as a wideout, has seven carries for 18 yards and a score plus three receptions for 24 yards in dual action this year.
Those four will likely see the bulk of the carries, especially with Gardner and Page now listed as OUT.
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“We believe we’ve got a good plan,” Sarkisian said. “We believe the guys that go in can execute and play at a high level. We’re just going to continue to try to develop those guys, and I feel like we’re going to be okay.”
Who else could grab carries? Or is even available?
Two walk-ons. One is Reid Watkins, a true freshman who had four carries for 15 yards against ULM. The other is Nik Sanders, a product of Waco (Texas) University who elected to join the football team after spending the 2024 season with the Longhorn baseball program.
The situation will test Choice’s ability to get the best out of his position for the Longhorn offense as it enters SEC play, a task Sarkisian believes the former NFL back is more than up for.
“I think Coach Choice has done a fantastic job,” Sarkisian said. “He’s an excellent coach. Coach Choice definitely has a worker’s mentality, almost an overachiever’s mentality. There’s a mindset to his approach of which you attack every day. I think that our guys really respond to that. There’s a real connectivity to that running back room that pushes one another to perform and perform even better.”
The Longhorns will reveal more about the situation at running back on Friday night when they have to update their injury report, and will do so again on Saturday before the game when the final availability report is released 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
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No matter what, Sarkisian, Choice, and the Longhorn running backs will have their mettle tested just as SEC play arrives.
