4 Texas players who could move to RB this fall

The injury bug has bit the Texas football running back room hard over the past week in fall practice. Last week, Texas lost sophomore running back CJ Baxter Jr. for the entire 2024 season due to a torn LCL/PCL injury he suffered in practice.

Texas football possibly looking for other candidates to move to RB in the wake of recent injuries

The depth situation in the backfield got even worse for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns this week when freshman running back Christian Clark suffered a lower-body injury in practice on Monday. Initial reports cited that Clark suffered a non-contact injury to his lower body in practice on Aug. 12 and needed assistance to get off the field.

There isn't a definitive word yet regarding the injury status and potential recovery timeline for Clark this fall. But it sounds like Texas is at least preparing for the need to add more bodies to the running back room since Tashard Choice is down to only three scholarship players at the position after the injuries to Clark and Baxter early in preseason camp.

"We're looking for a couple of guys on the offensive side of the ball, a potential player on the defensive side of the ball, or two, for that matter."

Sarkisian has acknowledged that Texas is looking for other potential options to move players around and add more bodies to the backfield this fall camp. Here are four possible options for potential position switches to add another player or two to the Texas backfield this fall after the injuries to Baxter and Clark in the past week in practice.

Derion Gullette, LB*

In the first scrimmage of fall camp last Saturday, redshirt freshman linebacker Derion Gullette took snaps on both sides of the ball. Gullette took snaps on offense as a reserve running back with the third-team offense during the scrimmage. He also took scrimmage snaps with the third-team defense at his usual spot at linebacker on Saturday.

Since Gullette was the first player we know of that Sarkisian and staff tried out at running back from another position group in the scrimmage last weekend, he is the obvious first candidate to make the move to the backfield this fall.

Gullette also played both sides of the ball as more of a true athlete for Marlin (TX) before he injured his knee during his senior year in high school in 2022. He played wide receiver and occasionally took reps out of the backfield as a running back during his junior season in 2021.

At 6-foot-3 and 235-pounds, Gullette could be utilized as more of a power back and a downhill runner. He's got excellent quickness and explosiveness for his size and is one of the better overall athletes Texas has at linebacker this year on the current roster.

Gullette is also in his second year at Texas, so he's seen the offensive scheme for Sarkisian in practice and played against it in camp in the last 18 months. He's got a pretty good understanding of the basics of how the offense works, especially since he played wide receiver and some running back in a pretty wide open offensive system for a couple of years in high school.