Texas Football: Watch: New Highlight Reel Shows Why Roschon Johnson is Going to Be a Handful for Opposing Defenses
Roschon Johnson is going to be a handful.
The former quarterback was rushed over to running back last year after injuries to Keaontay Ingram, Daniel Young and Jordan Whittington left Texas looking for emergency options at the position.
What looked like a temporary move of desperation by the coaching staff ended up producing one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2019 season for the Longhorns. Johnson finished with 649 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground for a 5.3 yards per carry average. He had a pair of 100-yard rushing games against Texas Tech and West Virginia and his 57-yard rush against Oklahoma helped the Longhorns seize the momentum in the Red River Showdown before ultimately falling to the Sooners.
You can see a small sample of how explosive and physical Johnson became over the course of the season in the highlight package below.
He was so good at the position, in fact, that the staff made the move permanent going into the 2020 season.
Johnson will join Ingram and incoming freshman Bijan Robinson in what has a chance to be Texas' most talented backfield from top to bottom in over a decade.
"We're excited about his (Johnson's) growth and development there (at running back)," Herman said.
The backfield is so loaded, in fact, that Herman has moved five-star prospect Whittington back to his original slot receiver position. Whittington was expected to contribute at the running back spot this year, but he re-aggravated a previous sports hernia injury and played in just one game in 2020.
While some might worry that having three backs all capable of being the starter would cut down on the number of carries each will see, we've seen stables of running backs become more and more prevalent across college football over the past few seasons at places like Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma. There's no reason Texas can't maximize all the talent they will have at the position in 2020 and beyond.
