2025 Texas Longhorns football preview: The running back room looks loaded
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Longhorns were up 20-10 against Arkansas in a hostile environment and got the ball back with just under seven minutes left in the game. They wanted to rely on the running game to end the game last season.
Texas ran the ball on nine of 11 plays before running out the clock enough to take a knee and seal the victory. That's the Longhorns running game at it's best and it may just be better in 2025.
Let's preview the running back room for Steve Sarkisian and company this upcoming fall.
2025 Texas Longhorns football preview schedule
- Offensive line
- Defensive line
- Linebackers: July 10
- Wide receivers/tight ends: July 17
- Quarterbacks: July 24
- Defensive backs and special teams: July 31
The Longhorns hope to be healthier in 2025 than they were in 2024 in the running back room. In training camp before last season, expected starter CJ Baxter suffered a knee injury that kept him out of the entire season. Freshman Christian Clark too was out for the year with an injury.
Now both of them return to a room that saw Quintrevion Wisner take over last season. Baxter will presumably start the year as the lead back, assuming health for the third-year star.
As a freshman, Baxter tallied 659 yards on the ground with five touchdowns. He was largely the lead back after normal starter Jonathon Brooks suffered an injury in early November 2023.
Baxter can be an extremely physical runner who goes between the tackles. Wisner showed his ability to do that a season ago. He ran the ball 226 times in 2024, the second most in a season by any Texas player since 2016.
Wisner, the junior from Glenn Heights, Texas, ran for over 1,000 yards and notched five touchdowns.
Jerrick Gibson showed off his ability to be a bruiser as well, rushing for 387 yards and four touchdowns last season as a freshman. He did fumble three times, however.
The Longhorns as a team had some issues with ball security at moments, fumbling 26 times and losing it on 12 occasions. Both of those numbers were more than their opponents.
Texas may expect to see a new dimension added to their offense with quarterback Arch Manning. He is much more capable of running the ball than previous starter Quinn Ewers. Manning often came in to games late in the season as a read-option quarterback so that could be an avenue in 2025.
With Baxter, Wisner and Gibson projected to be the three lead backs, Longhorn fans should feel excitement about the youth behind them.
Clark, entering his second year in Austin, was a four-star recruit who also held offers from Oregon and Alabama. Freshmen James Simon and Rickey Stewart Jr. also provide depth.
Simon was rated as one of the best running backs in the class of 2025 as the Shreveport, Louisiana native chose Texas over many power programs like Georgia and LSU.
Stewart Jr. was a standout at Chapel Hill High School in Tyler, Texas.
The Longhorns are not just replacing Jaydon Blue, but the running back's coach Tashard Choice who helped Texas' running game in a major way over his time.
Chad Scott replaces Choice. Scott heads to Austin by way of West Virginia, where he led the running back room since 2019.