Texas Football: D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren Will Be Best Backfield Duo in Big 12
By Tyler Brett
D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren, aka the “Smash Brothers,” already have the best tandem nickname in the conference. This season, they’ll also get recognized as the best running back duo in the Big 12 at the forefront of the Texas football offensive attack.
Foreman and Warren are similarly built backs who can punish defenders between the tackles. Coming in at a combined 501 pounds this spring, the Smash Brothers are bruisers who won’t shy away from contact. What sets them apart from your typical big-bodied plodders, however, is their ability to break games open with explosive runs.
Last season, Foreman ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 in yards per carry average while Warren finished No. 5 averaging 7.17 and 6.62 yards per attempt, respectively. Foreman put his big-play ability on display multiple times last season, including an 81-yard run to seal the win against Oklahoma and a 93-yard touchdown run against Kansas, the third longest in program history.
Despite all of that, however, Foreman and Warren are often afterthoughts when thinking about the top backs in the Big 12. The conference is stacked with talented backs and have some of the best running back stables in all of college football. Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon at Oklahoma and Shock Linwood and Johnny Jefferson at Baylor both tend to get more publicity than the Smash Brothers.
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Part of the problem was that Texas didn’t really know what they had until it was too late. The Longhorns offense struggled to find their identity and failed to really feed their running game consistently. Foreman didn’t record double-digit carries until the fifth game of the season against TCU. Not so coincidentally, that was also the first game he went over 100 yards. Warren, meanwhile, didn’t log more than four carries in a game until the final two weeks of the regular season.
When they got their opportunities, nobody in the Big 12 did more than the Smash Brothers. Starting with the TCU game, Foreman would go on to record 100 yards or more in four of the next six games. When he was forced to miss the final two games of the season with injury, Warren stepped in to shine, recording 382 yards and four touchdowns in the last two weeks of the season.
The biggest issue for the Smash Brothers was a lack of those opportunities. Foreman averaged just 9.5 carries per game while Warren got just 7.1, even failing to record a carry in two games. No 1,000-yard back from the Big 12 last season (there were seven) averaged fewer than 12 carries per game. So for Texas’ dynamic duo to get the recognition they deserve, they need to stay on the field and get fed their carries.
New offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert is no fool and understands utilizing the players he has in the best way possible. Reports out of fall camp seem to indicate that he understands the benefits of feeding the Smash Brothers and will use them as a driving force in this offense. The offensive line has been reshuffled to emphasize the interior power running game. Coupled with the Gilbert’s spread formations thinning out the box, Foreman and Warren should run wild in this offense.
Even in a dismal Texas offense last season, Foreman and Warren found success in the running game. With a featured role in an improved offense, the Smash Brothers should ascend to their rightful spot as the best backfield duo in the Big 12.