Championships aren’t won in fall camp, but they can be lost. Camp is a critical time to ramp up for the upcoming season. It is when new players acclimate, veterans grab needed reps and depth chart battles are won.
It’s also when injuries pile up.
That’s what’s happening in Austin, Texas at running back. Expected starter CJ Baxter, a five-star prospect coming off 659 yards last year as a true freshman, went down last week with a season-ending knee injury. Then on Monday the Longhorns lost another expected contributor when true freshman Christian Clark suffered a season-ending Achilles tear.
Just like that, Texas is down to three scholarship running backs. Nobody’s going to cry for Texas, the preseason No. 4 team who just spit out the top running back selected in the 2023 and 2024 NFL drafts in Bijan Robinson and Jonathon Brooks, respectively. Running backs grow like trees on the 40 Acres, though that fact doesn’t make this week any less devastating.
There are ways around those losses. The Longhorns are working redshirt freshman linebacker Derion Gullette (6-foot-3, 235 pounds) in the backfield behind the scholarship trio of junior Jaydon Blue, sophomore Tre Wisner and freshman Jerrick Gibson. Longhorn fans know well that converting players into running backs — Roschon Johnson, anyone? — can be done with great success.
But losing Baxter (RB1) and Clark (expected RB5) are still massive blows in the context of Texas gunning for a national championship in its SEC debut.
Running back depth is critical to survive the week-to-week rock fight that is SEC football. Pull the lens out wider, when a potential national champion will have to play 17 games in the debut of the 12-team College Football Playoff, and expecting three running backs to…
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