Texas Football: Ricky Williams gushes over Bijan Robinson
A lot of the success that new head coach Steve Sarkisian found on the offensive side of the ball this season for Texas football was thanks to the outstanding play of star sophomore running back Bijan Robinson. Texas has a true superstar in the backfield with Bijan leading the way for this offense.
Bijan still sits with the top three running backs with the best odds to win the Heisman Trophy this season. If the offense can open up a little bit more down the stretch this season, and Bijan can break some more big runs and get some open field to work with in the receiving game, seeing him finish up as a Heisman finalist would be anything but surprising.
Through the first seven games of the season, Bijan has registered more than 1,100 total yards from scrimmage (924 of which are rushing yards) and 13 total touchdowns. Bijan essentially leads the Big 12 in every major rushing category.
And he ranks in the top four in the FBS in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total yards from scrimmage, and total touchdowns.
Ricky Williams has many undeniable compliments for Texas football star RB Bijan Robinson
What Bijan did on the field for the Longhorns so far this season drew rave reviews from star running backs around the college football landscape in the last few decades. That includes the former USC Trojans star running back Reggie Bush and even the former Texas Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ricky Williams.
In an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” this week, Williams detailed his path from Texas to the NFL and all the way to where he is now. He also talked on the matter of Bijan, and his solid start to the season for the Longhorns.
Bijan and Williams have apparently communicated before, and try to stay in contact on a fairly regular basis. Williams also mentioned that he believes that Bijan is a “special talent” and that he is “honored that he [Bijan] decided to come to Texas”.
Williams sounds like he is truly impressed with what he’s seen from Bijan so far in his college career. And it sounds like this is a relationship between these two superstar Texas running backs that could flourish for a long time.
Moreover, Bijan could have the best shot at winning the Heisman Trophy among Longhorns’ running backs for the first time since Williams did in 1998 more so than any other since. Granted, Texas had some solid running backs roll through the Forty Acres in the last two decades.
That list of great Texas running backs just since the turn of the century includes Cedric Benson, D’Onta Foreman, and Jamaal Charles. But in roughly a season and a half of work with the Longhorns at running back, Bijan already has more than 2,000 total yards from scrimmage, 19 total touchdowns, and more than 1,600 rushing yards.
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If Bijan continues at his current pace (assuming that Texas plays in 13 games this fall), he will finish up this season with 1,716 rushing yards, 18 rushing scores, 360 receiving yards, and around seven receiving scores. For good measure, when Williams won the Heisman Trophy in 1998, he registered 2,386 total yards from scrimmage and 28 total touchdowns.
Bijan is on pace to finish up with 2,076 total yards and 25 total touchdowns. That’s incredibly solid, but probably not enough to win the Heisman this fall.