With Jonathon Brooks leading the way, Longhorns’ running game came alive in the nick of time
AUSTIN – Texas will take some time to be the dominant running team it was in 2022 but showed that it is taking strides in that direction with the production of Jonathon Brooks and crew in the Longhorns’ 31-10 win over Wyoming on Saturday.
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It took a while for Brooks and the Longhorns to get going but they finished strong as Brooks rumbled through a huge hole at right tackle and boxed his way down field on a 61-yard run that set the table for an eventual Quinn Ewers 5-yard scoring run that all but clinched the win in the fourth quarter
Brooks ended up with a career-high 164 yards rushing on a career-most 21 carries in a starring role. Freshman CJ Baxter, who started the first two games of the season, did not see the field because of an injury suffered late in Texas’ win at Alabama on Sept. 9.
“Credit the O-line,” Brooks said. “We just kind of started out slow as a whole offense and we just came together at halftime, kind of talked to each other and reminded each other what we could do and how we could do it.”
Asked afterward why it took so long for his team find its footing, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said the Wyoming defense – which used different fronts and angles of attack than the Longhorns had prepared for in practice – had a lot to do with the slow start.
“This is now two out of the three weeks where we have gotten an absolutely different defense than they’ve put on tape,” Sarkisian said after the win. “That’s a sign of being a really good team – that people are going to such lengths to play a style of defense that they would never play against anybody else.
“When that happens that’s where you have to fall back on your training and trusting your trading and being able to block the plays regardless of the look that we get.”
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Brooks said he felt “strong and a little bit sore” after his performance against the Cowboys. He said he was determined to score on the critical 61-yard run when he came up just short.
“I just didn’t want to go down – I was really trying to score,” he said. “I just tried to get the safety off me but I couldn’t do it – we were playing little hand games all the way down the sideline.”
Sarkisian said he hopes to get Baxter back for Texas’ Big 12 opener at Baylor on Sept. 23. He thinks there’s room – and a need – for both of the backs in the Longhorns’ offense.
“CJ just wasn’t 100 percent (Saturday) and I just didn’t want to risk it,” Sarkisian said. “Jonathon stepped up, played well and was shining all the way through and kind of felt like he got stronger as the game went on, which is a sign of a really good back. How many times have we seen that and talked about that with Bijan (Robinson) and how well he’d run in the fourth quarter of tight games.
“We need CJ – we need to get him back. You know, those two are both physical runners and run our style.”
