“Naw. Choice good.”
ATLANTA — Do the Texas Longhorns need to add a running back from the NCAA transfer portal?
Just like coaches have to look ahead for program management purposes, fans are looking ahead to the 2025 season, too, even as head coach Steve Sarkisian’s team prepares to face the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Sophomore running back CJ Baxter is recovering from the knee injury sustained in preseason camp that ended his 2024 season. Freshman Christian Clark suffered his own season-ending injury when he tore his Achilles several days after Baxter went down. Kansas and SMU transfer Velton Gardner won’t be back following his season-ending eye injury since he was a late addition made out of desperation.
And junior Jaydon Blue could still fulfill his offseason desire of jumping to the NFL.
“Of course it’s still a possibility, but it all depends on how I finish the season. I would like to not have to come back another year, but I’m going to do what’s best for me,” Blue said on Monday, according to Lone Star Live.
At Texas Media Day at the College Football Hall of Fame, Longhorns running backs coach Tashard Choice was emphatic when asked by Burnt Orange Nation about the possibility of a portal addition to his room.
“Naw. Choice good.”
Sarkisian prefers to recruit high school players over portal players in part because the relationship-building process afforded by lengthy recruitments of high school players stand in stark contrast to the rushed decision making necessitated by portal timelines.
Choice echoed his head coach on Monday.
“For me, it’s more you’ve got to have some faith in your guys, man,” Choice said. “They’ve got to believe in you, too. You know what I mean? And that’s the biggest thing, because the developmental part of you having your room the way you want to, it’s big, because when you’re getting guys out of the portal, you really don’t know who they are.”
The Horns will also have proven commodities returning in Baxter, sophomore Quintrevion Wisner, and, to a lesser extent, the Baby Rhino, freshman Jerrick Gibson.
“When you got young guys that you trust, it’s part of your evaluation, of understanding you’ve got dudes coming back that have shown they can run the football and be effective,” Choice said.
With the injuries at the position, including the ankle injury that Blue suffered against Michigan, and his subsequent ball-security issues, Wisner was a revelation for Texas, overachieving compared to his recruiting rankings and positioning himself to continue Sarkisian’s streak of 1,000-yard rushers with 27 yards against Arizona State.
Choice also revealed that he expects Baxter to receive full clearance from the medical staff by June.
“I’m excited for him. He’s working his tail off. Hopefully he will start running here pretty soon, but Ced Baxter’s about work — that’s why character matters when you have injuries, because it’s dark days in there. It’s days when people don’t text you no more to see how you’re doing. So he has to work for it now,” Choice said.
The tragic element of Baxter’s injury is how well he was performing during preseason camp.
“The way he was playing in fall camp, he was rolling. He had a chance to be really, really special this year,” Choice said.
With all to those factors under consideration, Choice is ready to move forward with the room he’s assembled with his phenomenal recruiting of high school prospects, including the nation’s No. 10 running back in James Simon in the 2025 class, and Wisner showing clear signs of the Texas running back coach’s developmental ability in 2024.
“It’s quick, and you can miss it,” Choice said of the portal. “Adding could be subtraction. In a lot of cases, you have to learn that; you have to know your guys, to understand that you gotta stand on the table for ‘em.”