3 Texas football players that would benefit most from Jordan Addison
Keilan Robinson, RB
Speed and skill are going to win the day for Sark and the Longhorns on offense this fall. If Texas is really going to see this offense get taken to new heights thanks to all of the new skill position players on the roster this year, they’ll need all of this speed and skill in the running back room and receiving corps to perform at or near peak efficiency.
A good example of a player for the Longhorns that could take off this fall thanks to his speed and skill is the rising redshirt junior running back Keilan Robinson.
There’s a good case to be made that there was no skill position player that was underutilized more by Sark and the Longhorns last season than Keilan. The former Alabama blue-chip speedster certainly flashed at times last season, but he didn’t get as many touches as many Longhorn fans would’ve liked.
Despite leading the Longhorns among running backs last season with 7.3 yards per carry and with an explosive play rate of 17.3 percent (runs of 10+ yards and catches of 20+ yards), Keilan only touched the ball 52 times last season between receiving and running plays. That was good for third on the team among running backs and sixth in total among all skill position players.
You would figure that such an explosive player would be touching the ball more often.
But one of the problems that faced the Longhorns as it pertains to getting Keilan the ball more often was a lack of open space for him to work. There were times when opposing defenses had a good read on Sark’s offense, especially when Texas was down.
It will be much more difficult for opposing defenses to focus additional resources and gameplanning for Keilan’s speed and elusiveness, though, if Texas has Addison in the mix. That would just add another weapon for the Longhorns to open up the field for Keilan whenever he gets the ball in his hands.
That is ultimately why adding a stud skill position weapon such as Addison could really benefit Keilan. If Texas has a more balanced and explosive offense in 2022, that should see Keilan at least get 50 percent more touches this coming season compared to last.