Texas Football: 3 RBs that must step up after Roschon Johnson’s injury

Jonathon Brooks

I think the most significant running back to watch in the regular season finale if Roschon is limited is the talented sophomore and former underrated four-star recruit Jonathon Brooks. The Hallettsville, TX, native was great for Texas when he’s actually getting a significant workload in the last couple of seasons.

Brooks is one of just two Big 12 running backs this season that has registered at least one rushing score in every game he’s played in with at least five touches. The other is the standout TCU Horned Frogs running back Kendre Miller.

With Brooks’ explosive outing that saw him have a career day against Kansas in Week 12, he showed what he can do with a bigger role in this offense. Brooks went off for a whopping 108 rushing yards on just 11 carries (9.8 yards per carry), with two rushing touchdowns.

This was the first multi-score game of Brooks’ collegiate career to date.

And this outing continued to show that Brooks is extremely effective when he’s actually getting a decent workload with this offense. In fact, Brooks leads all Big 12 running backs this season in predicted points added on run plays, per College Football Data.

Moreover, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that Brooks was actually more efficient against Kansas than Roschon was for most of the season. And that says a lot considering how Roschon is still one of the best running backs in the Big 12.

If Roschon is limited next week, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to see Brooks get at least a half-dozen carries against Baylor. I also would encourage his workload to continue to rise to finish out this season given that he leads all Texas running backs in yards per carry (7.5) in 2022.