Not long after he walked into the Carpenter-Winkel Centennial Room inside of Bellmont Hall on Monday, Texas football player Jaydon Blue was asked how he was feeling.

No worries, Blue assured the inquisitive reporter. The junior running back felt good.

Blue was speaking just a few days after he rushed the football 25 times for 124 yards and three touchdowns during a 51-3 rout of Louisiana-Monroe. He also scored on a 3-yard catch.

That workload was notable for a few reasons. Blue had missed the previous week's game because of an ankle injury. And in addition to those 25 carries being a career-high total at Texas, Blue hadn't recorded that many rushing attempts since he ran it 26 times against Spring Westfield during his junior year at Klein Cain High School.

GOLDEN: Why Texas football should start Arch Manning against Mississippi State

Blue did not play football during his senior year of high school, and he then had a reserve role during his first two seasons at Texas. In two starts the first two games of this season, he recorded just 20 carries before sitting out a 56-7 drubbing of UTSA on Sept. 14. Nonetheless, UT coach Steve Sarkisian didn't hesitate to feed Blue the football against the Warhawks.

"I think Blue is a really good player for us, and he's a different style of runner that we've had historically. But man, he's a weapon," said Sarkisian, who noted that Blue responded well to treatment and even did extra conditioning in the lead-up to the ULM game. "He can get to the edge, but a lot of his yards are between the tackles. He really hasn't gotten to the edge. We've been getting him the edge in the passing game, but because he's taking care of the ball so much better now than he ever did before in his younger years here, he's really reliable that way. The versatility he gives us is something that we're just really trying to take advantage of with him."

This marked the seventh time of Sarkisian's 43-game tenure at Texas that a Longhorn recorded 25 rushing attempts:

• Bijan Robinson (10/2/2021 at TCU): 35 carries for 216 yards, two touchdowns

• Roschon Johnson (11/26/2021 vs. Kansas State): 31 carries for 179 yards, one touchdown

• Robinson (11/5/2022 at Kansas State): 30 carries for 209 yards, one touchdown

• Robinson (11/25/2022 vs. Baylor): 29 carries for 179 yards, two touchdowns

• Robinson (10/15/2022 vs. Iowa State): 28 carries for 135 yards, no touchdowns

• Robinson (11/19/2022 at Kansas): 25 carries for 243 yards, four touchdowns

• Blue (9/21/2024 vs. ULM): 25 carries for 124 yards, three touchdowns

Even though he was once an All-American quarterback at BYU with a track record of mentoring passers, Sarkisian has not hid his affection for the running game. Sarkisian's offense produced a 1,000-yard rusher in nine of his 10 previous seasons as a head coach, and Najee Harris topped 1,000 yards while he was Alabama's offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020.

It should be noted that nine of Sarkisian's 11 1,000-yard rushers topped 200 rushing attempts, and both Robinson (195 carries for 1,127 yards in 2021) and Jonathon Brooks (187 carries for 1,139 yards in 2023) would have exceeded that 200-carry threshold had injuries not ended those seasons early. So far this fall, Blue is averaging 15 carries per game.

If UT is going to extend Sarkisian's streak of 1,000-yard rushers, it may need to lean on a running back with a heavy workload. Texas has sophomore Quintrevion Wisner and freshman Jerrick Gibson as additional options in the backfield, but could the six-foot, 200-pound Blue become a workhorse running back? He thinks so.

"I'm a very competitive guy. I always want the ball in my hands," Blue said after the ULM game. "I just want to do what's best for the team and tonight was the night I had to carry it 25 times. I miss getting the ball a lot, but it was good to see that I could carry the ball that many times in a game."

While helping Texas beat ULM, Blue recorded the fifth four-touchdown game by a Longhorn in the last decade. Yet, Sarkisian said his running back later told him that he could have played better.

Blue shared with reporters that he felt he should have gained more yardage on his runs. Blue also could have easily had a 69-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter had the timing between him and quarterback Arch Manning been a little better, and one of Manning's two interceptions that night came on a pass that was deflected off Blue's hands.

"I just always try to find ways to get better," Blue said. "I don't watch film to look at the good things I did. I look at the film to see the things that I need to work on, or things that I didn't do as well. It's just having the mentality of trying to get better day in and day out."

Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas running back Jaydon Blue record large workload against ULM