Inside Texas Today: Bijan Robinson's impressions of Tashard Choice, Quinn Ewers
Welcome to Inside Texas Today! Each weekday morning, Inside Texas Today will provide the latest from around the Forty Acres. This morning, IT Today looks at comments from Texas running back Bijan Robinson about his new position coach in Tashard Choice, plus his early impressions of quarterback Quinn Ewers.
Here’s the Friday, April 1, 2022 edition.
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“It’s a great transition.”
When Stan Drayton took the Temple head coaching job, it left an opening at Texas for running backs coach that offered a lot of perks. Living and working in Austin, competitive pay, and at least one season with star running back Bijan Robinson.
Tashard Choice answered Sarkisian’s call after a very short stint at USC. The former NFL running back who spent most of his career with the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills joined the Longhorn football program on December 18, 2021. Since then, he has crafted a relationship with Texas’ star back, who mentioned on Thursday his elbow was fully healed from the injury suffered in the Kansas game.
“Coach Choice, I love coach Choice,” Robinson said. “He came in off the bat, we had a great conversation about everything. His faith, because you know me, I’m a big faith guy. God is my everything, and same for him. We even talk about the word every single day, and just his energy here, everybody can feel his presence out there because he’s going to be the loudest one out there. On top of that, he’s going to teach you everything you need to know. With him coming in, replacing coach Drayton, coach Drayton was my guy as well. With him coming in, he’s been a big help.”
Choice, who Robinson said often lifts and runs with members of the current team, does have a different style compared to Drayton. According to Robinson, both still key in on the same thing at the end of the day.
“Coach Drayton, he’ll always bring the energy but he was more of a technician,” Robinson said. “‘We need to get things down immediately.’ No messing around-type of style. Coach Choice, we’ve got the music going. He’s always ready to go for everything, but he gets us honed in on what we need to do. If we make great plays, he’s right down there with us. Every time we mess up, he’s still right there with us trying to get us going and get us back focused. They’re really similar in coaching, just the energy is a little different.”
In addition to player additions, Robinson was asked about likely the highest-profile addition to the Longhorns this offseason in quarterback Quinn Ewers. The former five-star had high praise for a fellow former five-star.
“He’s a great kid,” Robinson said. “He’s still trying to learn his way around the city, the team, the offense. He ‘s a little quiet right now. He knows he needs to be that leader – we all need to be that leader, honestly – but for him, just to get the offense down and be more comfortable. That’s when his emotions will be seen and be shown by the team. Then he’ll really understand what he’s doing and get acclimated out here.”
Texas viewing for 4/1
No. 11 men’s tennis – No. 4 Baylor – Texas Tennis Center – Austin, Texas – 6 p.m. – Live Video
No. 15 softball – Iowa State – McCombs Field – Austin, Texas – 6 p.m. – Longhorn Network
No. 8 baseball – Oklahoma – Globe Life Field – Arlington, Texas – 6:30 p.m. – SoonerSports.TV
