3 offensive Texas football players that can breakout in September

Jonathon Brooks, RB

Texas has a sleeping giant at the running back position heading into this season in the sophomore Hallettsville, TX, native Jonathon Brooks. This former blue-chip recruit flashed what he could become for this running back room with a limited workload last season when he put up 143 rushing yards on 21 carries (6.8 yards per carry), with one rushing score.

In that limited workload, Brooks actually led the FBS among freshmen in elusive rating (per PFF) and averaged the most missed tackles forced per carry in the Big 12 among running backs last season.

Brooks really maximized each carry he got with the Longhorns as a true freshman.

And the fact of the matter is that Brooks should only get better from here on out.

There will be situations this season that will be made for Brooks to thrive with this offense, especially in the second half. If Texas can get some good first-half leads on some of the beatable opponents they play next month (which is essentially every team on the schedule except for the Alabama Crimson Tide), Sark should give Brooks some heavier workloads in the second halves of games to wear down opposing defenses.

Brooks is the type of runner that just won’t go down for a loss on the play. He is a tough and elusive runner that has a quick cut that can make defenders miss in space and he’s got enough lower-body strength to easily plow through poor attempted tackles.

Nearly half of Brooks’ attempts last season resulted in first downs, and nearly 80 percent of them resulted in successful plays for the offense (a gain of at least four yards or a first down gained). That type of success rate will be much needed for this offense when Texas is put in positions to close out games against decent opponents in second halves this season.

I believe Texas will use Brooks more often this season when star junior running back Bijan Robinson is subbed out, especially when they hold a second-half lead. He’ll also get a bigger workload in the first month of the season, with opponents like ULM and the UTSA Roadrunners on the docket, than he did last year.

This all should add up to a big first month of the season for Brooks where he could realistically come close to matching or even surpassing his production from all of last year.