Texas Football: ESPN tabs Bijan Robinson as breakout player to watch

Although many would argue that he already went through his major breakthrough down the stretch during his true freshman campaign, the former five-star recruit and sophomore Texas football running back Bijan Robinson could still have a lot of growth ahead in 2021. And that is partly why a recent ESPN piece previewing the 2021 season tabbed him as a potential breakout star to watch this fall.

Less than two months from the start of the 2021 season for new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns, the thought is that this offense could revolve around Robinson. Down the stretch last season, Robinson absolutely caught fire to help lead Texas past the likes of the Kansas State Wildcats in the regular season finale and then the Colorado Buffaloes in the Alamo Bowl.

All six of Robinson’s touchdowns during his true freshman campaign came in those final two games of the 2020 season. All told, Robinson registered 703 rushing yards on 86 carries (8.2 yards per carry), four rushing touchdowns, 196 receiving yards on 15 catches (13.1 yards per catch), and two touchdown catches.

Hype continues to build around sophomore Texas football RB Bijan Robinson

But prior to the final two games of last season, Robinson had only one 100-rushing yard game and no touchdowns through the air or on the ground. It took former head coach Tom Herman and former offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich the last two games of last season to finally give Robinson the role he deserved most of the way.

Robinson is likely to excel right away in this new offensive scheme under the likes of Sark and new offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood. And despite all of the change on the coaching staff, there will be some familiarity for Robinson with the return of running backs coach Stan Drayton.

If Robinson gets the bulk of the workload game in and game out this fall, and he’s able to stay healthy the entire way, he could very well be the first Longhorns Heisman contender at running back since D’Onta Foreman in 2016.

It’s hard to say that any running back in the Big 12 has more hype entering the 2021 season than Robinson. And he deserves a lot of that hype given that he was the top-ranked high school running back prospect in the nation for the 2020 recruiting cycle, and he was one of the hottest rushers in the country to round out last season.

Texas finished up last season with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) under the direction of the former head coach Herman. Sark and the Longhorns are set to open up the 2021 regular season at home on Sep. 4 against Louisiana.