After an incredible season that saw the Texas Longhorns reach the College Football Playoff Semifinal in their best season yet under head coach Steve Sarkisian, they’re back for more.
The Longhorns made the run despite injuries to running backs CJ Baxter and Christian Clark, leaning instead on sophomore Quintrevion Wisner, who ran for 1,064 yards and five touchdowns in 12 starts. He added 44 receptions, 311 yards and a touchdown through the air.
Steve Sarkisian Details Texas’ Running Back Rotation Heading Into 2025 Season
Now, the Arch Manning era begins in Austin. The Longhorns are ready for their new starting quarterback to hit the field, and in an interview with ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Sarkisian said the running back room looks great too.
“I think that the backfield will be better, in some degree,” Sarkisian told Thamel. “We got two guys coming off of injuries in CJ Baxter and Christian Clark, and we really think highly of both of them. We have a 1,000-yard rusher coming back, Tre Wisner, and we have a true freshman kid who’s going to be a sophomore in Jerrick Gibson, who played some really significant meaningful snaps in some big games. And so I feel really good about the running back room.”
The Longhorns leaned on Wisner, along with now Cowboy Jaydon Blue, to lead their run game in the absence of Baxter and Clark.
Baxter rushed for 659 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman in 2023, sharing carries with Jonathan Brooks. A knee injury which required surgery on both his ACL and LCL sidelined him for the entirety of last year. Clark, a four-star prospect according to On3, tore his Achilles over the summer, missing his entire freshman year. Both are expected to return this fall.
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Gibson played 14 games as a freshman in 2024, rushing for 377 yards and four touchdowns. The Longhorns also added two running backs — four-star recruit James Simon and three-star recruit Rickey Stewart Jr. — in their 2025 high school recruiting class.
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