Bijan and Roschon lead the way, but who is behind them?

Texas has known commodities at the top two spots of its running back depth chart. Junior Bijan Robinson was selected as the Big 12 preseason offensive player of the year in recent weeks after his 1127-yard sophomore season. Senior Roschon Johnson missed out on the media’s preseason All-Big 12 team, but joined Robinson on the watch list for the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation’s top back.

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Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has heaped mountains of praise on both Robinson and Johnson since the 2021 season ended. Not only has that duo performed on the field, they’ve done everything Sarkisian and his coaching staff believe is right off of the playing surface.

While Sarkisian has a propensity to distribute most of the carries to the top two backs — Robinson and Johnson received 79 percent of the running back carries last season — the physical demands of running back position should necessitate game-readiness from every member of Tashard Choice’s position group ahead of the 2022 season. After all, Johnson originally became a running back because of lack of depth in 2019.

Who are behind the top two? Three backs with some flashes in their career but no proven track record.

Keilan Robinson enters his second year in the Longhorn program. The Alabama transfer was third on the team in rushing yardage behind Bijan Robinson and Johnson with 322 yards on 45 carries. Following Bijan Robinson’s season ending injury versus Kansas, Keilan Robinson rushed for 111 yards and a score on nine carries in the game at West Virginia.

Keilan Robinson also plays a key role on special teams. His explosive quickness that was made evident a handful of times last year is useful not just in the return game, but also on punt block and other special teams units.

For Robinson to find more opportunities than that of a change-of-pace back, his hands need to improve. In 11 games last season, Robinson caught seven of the 10 passes intended for him. For as often as Sarkisian distributes the ball to running backs in the pass game, better hands are needed for him to be more than a wrinkle.

Contending for the third spot with Robinson is Johnathon Brooks. A standout at Hallettsville, Brooks rushed 21 times for 143 yards and a score last year, and played meaningful snaps versus Kansas when injury plagued the position. However, he too fell victim to injury and was lost for the year in that game.

He flashed, however, and did so once again in the Longhorns’ Orange-White game. Brooks could provide a more complete presence out of the backfield than Keilan Robinson, as could the true freshman in the room.

Jaydon Blue elected to sit out his senior season at Klein Cain High School in the Houston area before enrolling at Texas. That raised eyebrows for those following his recruitment, but a fellow member of his running back room said Blue has acclimated himself well to college football.

“With any freshman, you have something to prove,” Johnson said at Big 12 Media Days. “You have to prove that you can work. You have to prove that you’re worthy of wearing those colors. He’s definitely made strides. When you’re a freshman coming into this program, it’s shaky for everybody. He’s definitely made big strides from the first day that he stepped on campus.”

Blue arrived at Texas with tremendous physical gifts as evidenced by his personal best 10.7 in the 100m. After taking a hiatus from competition, so far Blue has proven those gifts have translated to Texas.

Those are the scholarship options who will look to pick up the carries not taken by Bijan Robinson and Johnson, the two undisputed workhorses of the backfield. With the physical toll running backs take, there should be opportunity for all three of Keilan Robinson, Blue, and Brooks to find snaps outside of the special teams realm in 2022.

And the walk-ons?

Of course, there are also members of the walk-on ranks who may not see snaps this year but provide value to others in the position group and the opposing defense as members of the scout team. Walk-on backs on the 2022 roster include freshmen Ky Woods and Colin Page, plus sophomore Anton Simieou.

Woods was a burner at Clear Springs High School in League City. On the track, he recorded personal bests of 10.9 in the 100m and 22.93 in the 200m. He rushed for 877 yards on 132 carries with six touchdowns while also hauling in 34 passes for 413 yards and five touchdowns in 2021 to conclude his three-year varsity career.

Page, a product of Anderson High School just down the road from UT’s campus, rushed for 832 yards and four touchdowns on 125 carries in seven games for the Trojans.

Simieou played linebacker at Pearland High School before switching to running back at Texas. He has not seen any game action in his two years on the Forty Acres.