Who Will Lead the Texas Longhorns in Rushing in 2020?
There was a point last season when injuries had rendered Texas' running back depth in such bad shape that players were being pulled from other positions to take snaps in the backfield.
Fast forward nine months and the Longhorns might have their deepest running back room in over a decade - certainly the deepest under head coach Tom Herman's watch.
Texas will likely spread the wealth this season when it comes to running back touches and should use more two-back sets to take advantage of all their versatile talent sets.
But who will lead the team in rushing? Let's take a deep dive at the candidates.
Keaontay Ingram
Class: Junior
2019 Rushing Numbers: 853 yards, seven Touchdowns
Ingram led the team in rushing last year after overcoming an early-season slump. He put up 100-yard rushing totals against Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State and Utah and finished the year with a 5.9 yards per carry average. He came close to becoming the first Longhorn in the Herman era to rush for over 1,000 yards. One would think he's the No. 1 guy on the depth chart entering the season, but he's going to have to hold off a hard-charging group of youngsters if he wants to keep that position all the way through the year.
Roschon Johnson
Class: Sophomore
2019 Rushing Numbers: 649 yards, seven touchdowns
Johnson was one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2019 season. Starting the year as a backup quarterback, he was called into service to help shore up a thin running back room after injuries to Daniel Young, Jordan Whittington and Ingram left Texas in a bind at the position. He finished the year with a pair of 100-yard performances against West Virginia and Texas Tech and had a game-changing 57-yard touchdown against Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown. That all came after spending nearly all of spring and summer last year throwing passes with the quarterbacks. He enters the summer as the 1B option to Ingram's 1A, but it's easy to see a situation where a full camp with the running backs would be enough switch those two spots.
Bijan Robinson
Class: Freshman
2019 Rushing Numbers: N/A
Robinson comes to the Forty Acres as one of the most-hyped running back recruits in recent memory. He was a man amongst boys during his career at Salpointe Catholic in Arizona, rushing for 7,036 yard and 103 total touchdowns with a staggering 13.4 yards per carry average. He's probably already physically ready to make a difference, but the real question will be how quickly he adjusts to the mental side and speed of the college game. If he takes off and gets momentum early Robinson could find himself siphoning off carries from the two guys starting the year ahead of him on the depth chart.
Sam Ehlinger
Class: Senior
2019 Rushing Numbers: 677 yards, seven touchdowns
Ehlinger led the team in rushing attempts a year ago and that's probably not a good thing. He is always going to be a part of the Longhorns' rushing game and it's a big part of what makes him so special, but the Texas staff would likely like to see his number of attempts go down a bit in 2020. Not only does that mean less chance for injury and more touches for a trio of dynamic playmakers in the backfield, it probably also means more big plays down the field in the passing game.
