Texas 'Looking At All Options' For Adding Transfer RB

The Texas Longhorns have suffered a pair of season-ending injuries at the running back position during training camp.

Jul 17, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports | Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports

AUSTIN -- Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian isn't ruling out the possibility of the team adding another running back to the roster via the transfer portal ahead of the regular-season opener against Colorado State.

When meeting with the media Monday, Sarkisian admitted that nothing is guaranteed on that front, but the season-ending injuries to Cedric Baxter and Christian Clark could lead the team to add some depth to the backfield.

"We definitely have a spot that we can utilize," Sarkisian said. "Again, a lot of times this late in the game, it's probably not a traditional transfer, maybe more of a graduate transfer, something of the sort. So we're kind of looking at all of our options. We just don't want to take a body, to take a body. If it's someone that can help us in some capacity, maybe limited role, bigger role, whatever that is, we are we are looking at all options."

Texas Longhorns hey football coach, Steve Sarkisian during the first day with pads in fall football camp practice for the Texas Longhorns at Denius Fields on Monday, August 5, 2024. | Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

According to 247Sports' transfer portal database, some of the top available running backs include former five-star UCF recruit Demarkcus Bowman, East Carolina transfer Kamarro Edmonds, North Texas transfer Tre Bradford, former Utah Ute Chris Curry and former Longhorn Derrian Brown, who originally committed to Texas as a four-star recruit in the 2019 class.

These are just a few of the notable names. As Sarkisian said, the Longhorns won't be adding a running back just becausee they can. There has to be a fit both schematically and culturally that the team sees as potentially being beneficial moving forward.

Fortunately, Sarkisian said that the team is looking much healthier on the injury front after the losses of Baxter and Clark.

"We're great health-wise, quite frankly," Sarkisian said. "Credit to coach Becton and his staff for the work that they did this summer. Credit to our training staff. We had a couple guys come in a little limited (but) everybody's back working. In this juncture of training camp -- we've had a couple tough injuries, the season-ending injuries that you have to deal with -- but we're really not missing many players at all that are 'out.'"

No. 4 Texas kicks off at home against Colorado State on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 2:30 p.m. CT.