Steve Sarkisian believes youth can replace Texas RB Bijan Robinson

Texas has a big task ahead when it has to replace Bijan Robinson at running back moving forward. Head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke after National Signing Day saying youth could be used to replace the three-year all star. By the sound of it, Sarkisian suggested two young freshmen could step up next season.

“I think freshmen can come in and play the running back position,” Sarkisian said. “I’ve seen it done multiple times at different stops. I’ll go back way back in my own career, when we had Reggie (Bush) and Lendale White as true freshman playing for us at USC and the impact they had on that team, to most recently to what Bijan did as a true freshman here just a couple of years ago and then everything in between.”

Cedric Baxter and Tre Wisner were two commits in the Class of 2023, a part of Texas’ No. 4 ranked recruiting class. Sarkisian made interesting comments on how the Longhorns recruit the position.

“We always try to find, we don’t want the same runner every year,” Sarkisian said. “We’re always trying to find, if we’re going to take two, how do they balance each other out? And obviously Cedric Baxter is a big physical runner. He’s all of 6-foot-1, 220 pounds, if not more, and he may be a little taller than that now. He’s a guy who’s young in age, you know, he’s gonna be 17 years old here showing up, but he’s going to be a big physical back one that we’re used to having in our system. 

“And then you compliment that with Tre Wisner, a guy who is a very versatile back who we saw in the state championship game had over 200 yards of all-purpose yardage, whether it was receiving, running, playing in the slot, lining up in the backfield. And so that complimentary look of those two guys to fit into our system I think is really important to our own style of play.”

Baxter was one of the big gets of the class. He came in as the third-highest rated prospect among the team’s recruits.

Baxter is a five-star prospect out of Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater, according to the On3 Consensus. He is the No. 6 overall prospect in the state, the No. 1 running back in the class and the No. 23 overall prospect in the class.

Meanwhile, Wisner is a three-star prospect out of DeSoto (Texas) High. He is the No. 97 overall prospect in the class, the No. 39 running back in the class and the No. 574 overall prospect in the class.