At the running back position, injuries are nothing new.

Texas knows this. When Chris Warren III went down in 2016, D'Onta Foreman turned a timeshare into a Doak Walker Award. Roschon Johnson finished the 2021 season strong after Bijan Robinson suffered a season-ending elbow injury. And Jonathon Brooks stepped up when CJ Baxter was injured last season, and then Baxter stepped up when Brooks was lost in November.

So when Texas announced Wednesday that Baxter, the presumed starter, would have season-ending knee surgery, attention quickly shifted to the Longhorns' contingency plan. This time, Jaydon Blue appears to be the next man up. The junior has only 80 carries on his college résumé, but he played well down the stretch last season after Brooks' knee injury and recently joined Baxter on the preseason watch list for the Doak Walker.

But after Blue, who else is on the depth chart?

Wisner looks like the new No. 2

What about sophomore Quintrevion Wisner? He was mostly used on special teams last season, but he impressed coaches with how he handled those responsibilities, and he did score on one of his 12 rushing attempts. As a senior at DeSoto High in 2022, he averaged 6.8 yards per carry and won a state championship alongside UT receiver Johntay Cook II.

"Tre's a baller. We saw the physicality that Tre possessed last year on special teams. He was a demon on special teams for us last year," said UT coach Steve Sarkisian, who described Wisner on Thursday as physical, fast and versatile. "That was a deep running back room that he was sitting in with Jonathon and Keilan (Robinson) and then (Baxter) and Jaydon. When you're sitting there as the fifth back, and then we had Savion (Red) even at wildcat; he didn't maybe get as many carries in-game, but we saw what he could do at practice."

Keep an eye on two UT freshmen

Texas signed two four-star running backs in its 2024 recruiting class. While attending the IMG Academy in Florida, Jerrick Gibson was viewed as a top-10 national running back prospect. And Sarkisian has previously said that Christian Clark reminds him slightly of Robinson, who also was signed out of Arizona.

"Both of them are physical players," Sarkisian said. "Jerrick is a workhorse. He is a very hard-nosed runner, tough. Christian's got great one-cut ability. Both catch the ball out of the backfield."

In a position room coached by former NFL running back Tashard Choice, UT has several walk-ons, such as Colin Page, who once starred at Anderson High in Austin, and Nik Sanders, who also plays baseball at Texas. The Longhorns could add to the depth in their backfield by asking someone to switch positions.

It wasn't too long ago that Johnson was a four-star quarterback, and he evolved into a running back and an eventual fourth-round draft pick at that position. Current UT linebacker David Gbenda had a short stint as a running back when the depth there was depleted his freshman year. Red, who recently transferred to Nevada, arrived at Texas as a receiver but made his biggest impact as a rushing option.

Johnson and Gbenda's shifts into the backfield were made under former UT coach Tom Herman, but Red changed positions under Sarkisian, who didn't dismiss the idea of scouting his own roster for potential running backs but did say that he first wants to see his players get reps at their current positions.

"As of right now, I feel really good about the four (scholarship) guys that we have," he said. "To be fair to the rest of the guys on the roster, I kind of want to get them through this first scrimmage. They've been working a position to give them a chance to play in this first scrimmage. We'll assess as the staff on Sunday when we evaluate the entire roster if that's something that we may do."

Looking toward the first scrimmage

On Thursday, Sarkisian didn't divulge too many details about Saturday's closed scrimmage at Royal-Memorial Stadium. All of the Longhorns will get a chance to play, though.

"It's going to be a great opportunity for guys to play," Sarkisian said. "What I want to see is what do they know. Again, the coaches aren't on the field; everybody's off. They have to get the call; they have to communicate the call; they have to work together. How do they play when they get a little bit fatigued? It's not going to be so much of a test of maybe the ones — the installation is what it is — but I want to learn about our twos and our threes and even some fours of how they respond and playing in DKR in a scrimmage-type setting."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Longhorns football team eyes running back depth after CJ Baxter injury